Opinion: Ron Paul reports spending $322,000 on deceased campaign in May

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According to the latest campaign finance reports filed Friday, Rep. Ron Paul, the 72-year-old libertarian-like Republican congressman from Texas who ended his hopeless presidential race recently to focus on a long-shot, long-term revolution, still managed to spend $321,983 on his White House campaign in its last month.

Paul, a Republican who refuses to acknowledge Arizona Sen. John McCain as the winner of the GOP nomination, ended May with $4.5 million in the bank after all expenses, according to The Times’ diligent Dan Morain, who combs through all these political numbers each month.

Paul’s fund-raising slowed significantly in May, at least into his presidential account. He reported receipts of only $133,215, a sharp drop from the nearly $20 million he raised in the fourth quarter of 2007 to lead all GOP presidential candidates.

Altogether, Paul has reported net contributions of $34.34 million since early 2007 and campaign expenditures of $29.97 million. He ended the effort with about 1.1 million primary votes, perhaps 24 delegates, no debt and refused to accept federal matching funds for his primary campaign.

If the 10-term congressman holds on to those delegates for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in early November, that works out to about $1.24 million per delegate, more than moneybags Mitt or New York Rudy spent per delegate won in their losing causes.

Click on the Read more line below to see a detailed accounting of Paul’s May spending, which includes $236 for a security hotel room, $14,305.74 for an unidentified credit card payment and $60 for a consultant, which means he wasn’t employing Mark Penn.

--Andrew Malcolm

Detailed expense accounting of Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, May 2008

ACCOUNTING SERVICES 4,255.50
AIRLINE TRAVEL 37,068.40
BANQUET TICKETS 1,875.00
BOOKS/MAGAZINES 712.67
BOOTH RENTAL 500.00
BULK PRINTING 2,141.61
CATERING 892.66
COMPUTER ACCESS SERVICE 11.95
COMPUTER SUPPLIES/EXPENSE 425.00
CONSULTING 60.00
CONSULTING-POLITICAL FIELD WORK 25,195.00
CONTRIBUTION REFUND 80,786.91
CONVENTION SPONSORSHIP 500.00
CREDIT CARD CONTRIBUTIONS PROCESSING FEE 5,026.93
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT 14,305.74
EMAIL SERVICES 3,360.00
FOOD EXPENSE 4,002.68
FREIGHT/SHIPPING EXPENSES 8,207.51
GASOLINE 518.38
GENERAL POSTAGE EXPENSE 2,424.58
LIST RENTAL/PURCHASE 200.00
MEDIA EXPENSE 2,096.48
MILEAGE EXPENSE 1,428.85
NEWSPAPER ADS 2,882.00
OFFICE SUPPLIES 1,463.14
PARKING EXPENSE 596.89
PAYROLL PROCESSING FEES 243.19
PAYROLL TAX EXPENSE 50,634.51
PHOTO SHOOT 300.00
POLITICAL FIELD WORK 182.00
REIMBURSE PHONE EXPENSE 177.55
REIMBURSEMENT EXPENSES 22,861.38
RENT EXPENSE 20,034.88
SALARIES 62,452.59
SECURITY ACCOMMODATIONS 246.00
SERVICE CHARGE 270.00
SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE 862.52
TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2,247.03
TELEPHONE EXPENSE 2,309.14
TRAVEL EXPENSE 1,448.46
TRAVEL-CAR RENTAL 631.30
TRAVEL-HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS 3,678.81
TRAVEL-TAXI EXPENSE 349.00
UTILITIES 814.15
VIDEO/DVD PROCESSING 650.00
WEB DESIGN/HOSTING/MAINT 12,649.02