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The self-proclaimed fiscally conservative Republican Party of Florida is catching heat over 3.6 million dollars charged on credit cards given to its elected officials. Embattled Representative Ray Sansom racked up 173-thousand dollars on his card alone. As Whitney Ray tells us, the news of the extravagant spending isn’t sitting well with party donors.

Food, flowers, and airfare for his daughter are just a few things former house speaker Ray Sansom charged on a credit card given to him by the Republican Party of Florida. Sansom racked up 173-thousand dollars in charges on the card. Party donor and former Republican lawmaker Ken Plante is upset at the way the money was spent.

“When you read through it, there are some things that maybe you say, okay, I hope he can justify these things. There’s an awful lot of them that are going to be pretty hard to justify,” said Plante.

The laundry list of purchases was uncovered during a criminal investigation of Sansom. The former house speaker is facing charges for setting aside six million state dollars to build an airplane hanger for a political contributor. The Republican Party of Florida refused to discuss the spending, citing the ongoing Sansom case and its own confidentiality policy, as the reasons.

Sansom isn’t the only Republican politician with a party card. Over an 18 month period Republicans racked up 3.6 million dollars in charges. The state Democratic Party doesn’t issue cards to its members. Chairwoman Karen Thurman said she tells her donors how their money is being used.

“I’m very thorough in making sure they understand and appreciate what I am going to spend my dollars on because by the way, they are not my dollars,” said Thurman.

State Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer says he’s also willing to tell contributors how donations are being spent. Greer says he’s just a phone call away.

Since word of Sansom’s spending began to circulate two state Republican senators have given their credit cards back to the party.