Scotch! Scotch! Scotch! Scotch! Scotch! Scotch! Scotch!*

Man, I've heard of people campaigning in bars before but never this much:

A state assembly candidate’s treasurer is accused of spending the campaign’s war chest at a Manawa tavern.

David F. Asman, 60, Manawa, in a criminal complaint filed Jan. 28 in Waupaca County, is charged with 11 counts of theft and one count of unauthorized use of campaign funds.

[...]

Murray discovered in July 2006 that Asman had been writing checks from the Hyde Murray for Assembly account to the Thunder’n Bar in Manawa, usually in amounts of $50. In all, about 26 checks were written totaling $1,285, according to the criminal complaint.

Even after the account was closed and Asman fired as treasurer, he continued to write checks from the account, prosecutors say. After the account was closed, he cashed five additional checks totaling $300 at the bar. The five checks all bounced.

Murray raised and spent $2,181 during his unsuccessful campaign, according to campaign finance reports.

The bar’s owner told the Manawa police chief the checks were “cashed so that he (Asman) could drink.”

When confronted by police and asked if the expenditures were for campaign purposes, Asman replied “yes, to use the term liberally.”

(emphases added)

Hysterical! If I did the math right, then 59% of this guy's campaign coffers went to paying his treasurer's bar tab -- and you gotta love the way Asman just played the whole thing off like it was a legitimate work-related expense!

Oh, it's stories like these that warm the cackles of my heart!

[via Todd O'Henry]

* Sorry, I'm on a Will Ferrell kick of late.