The guy pictured above in an "Edmond Dad" Halloween costume is Mike Osborne. He's a Republican running for State House in, you guessed it, Edmond.
In case you didn't notice, the suit jacket, shirt, blue jeans and other items that his wife bought for him at Kohl's are all very clean and freshly pressed. Well, at least they better be. According to this article by Nolan Clay that's not about strip clubs, Mike tried to pass off his dry cleaning bill as a legitimate campaign expense.
Via NewsOK.com:
Some state legislators misused their campaign donations this year to make purchases forbidden by tougher new ethics rule, records show.
Among the banned items are University of Oklahoma football tickets.
Also banned are Oklahoma State University tickets, home mortgage payments, vacation costs, concert tickets, country club dues and even gas bought for the campaign trail.
Compliance officers at the Oklahoma Ethics Commission are systematically reviewing every campaign report this year. They are contacting candidates when a problem is found so it can be corrected. Violations are being treated as unintentional, a result of not realizing the rules changed...
The most unusual reimbursement came from House candidate, Mike Osburn, R-Edmond.
Osburn in May spent $82.56 from his campaign funds on dry cleaning, reporting it was for a photo shoot.
He reimbursed his campaign in July, writing, “Ethics Commission informed me that dry cleaning is not a permissible campaign expense.”
Wow, I'm not sure what's more embarrassing. Is it that Mike, a lawyer, is being sneaky and trying to pass off common, everyday household expenses like dry cleaning as a campaign expenditure, or is it spending $82.56 on dry cleaning for a photoshoot? Seriously, how's that even possible? Was he modeling a set of down comforters and silk gowns? Did nobody tell him about those $1 dry cleaning places? I'm cool with politicians using their positions of power and influence to lie, cheat and steal, but getting taken to the cleaners by the cleaners? That's unacceptable. If you can't find an affordable dry cleaner, how can you really expect to solve our state's budget crisis?
To help figure out why Mike's dry cleaning bill was so high, I stopped by his website to view his promotional campaign photos. This is what I found:
Okay, nobody get's polo shirts dry cleaned, right? If they get wrinkly, you can always throw them in the dryer for 15 minutes.
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Mike's shirt looks like it got a good, quality starch in that one.
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I'm not seeing a lot of dry cleaning in this one. I do, however, like the dad shoes he's wearing. I think they're on-sale at Academy.
I don't know if Mike's shirt is dry cleaned, but check out the creases on the sleeves of his white Republican friends. Maybe he was paying for their dry cleaning, too. That could be why the bill was so high.
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Even though he allegedly spent $82.56 on dry cleaning for a photoshoot, those are the only photos of Mike on his website. I guess my investigation is inconclusive. As a result, I openly call on Mike Osborne to release all photos from his photoshoot to see what clothing items were dry cleaned. Then, and only then, will we know if Mike is just your typical unethical Oklahoma politician who uses his campaign to promote his own financial gain, or just an idiot who spends too much on dry cleaning.
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