Braun's campaign spending questioned

CHICAGO, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- The Illinois Board of Election says Carol Moseley Braun's unsuccessful 2011 mayoral campaign failed to document $315,000 in spending.

Officials told the Chicago Sun-Times and WMAQ-TV, Chicago, Braun reportedly raised $323,000 and spent $315,000. Her campaign filed a campaign spending report in April but failed to itemize expenditures over $150, which is required by law, officials said Friday.

"I have not seen an example worse than this of a committee with this kind of money," David Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, told the Sun-Times and WMAQ. "The basic idea here is that the public has a right to know where the money is coming from and where it is going."

Officials said Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other major candidates all filed proper paperwork.

Braun, a former U.S. senator and U.S. ambassador, said her former treasurer, Billie Paige, a Springfield lobbyist, is to blame for the paperwork problems. Paige said she resigned from the Braun campaign on April 15, the day the campaign disclosure form was filed.