Todd Akin Used Thousands in Government Funds for Tea Party Rally

The Post Dispatch points to a Roll Call article stating Rep. Todd Akin spent over $3,400 in government funds for a Tea Party Rally in 2009, despite provisions banning the use of tax payer money for political rallies. You remember this rally...the one where he very publicly screwed up the Pledge of Allegiance: 

Washington, D.C.,-based newspaper Roll Call is reporting Monday that U.S. Rep. Todd Akin spent $3,407 of taxpayer funds from his congressional account to pay for a tea party-backed rally in 2009.

Use of taxpayer money for strictly political events is prohibited by House rules. However, the funds can be used for press conferences, which is how the event was advertised. But Roll Call reporter Paul Singer points out that unlike most press conferences, “no questions were taken from the press and ... it opened with a prayer, the national anthem and a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.”

The money went to help rent a sound system for a rally against a Democratic health care reform bill. Republican U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, Steve King of Iowa and Tom Price of Georgia also contributed $3,407 of taxpayer funds to the sound system rental.