Though 31 Republican Party of Florida credit card holders -- staff members, legislative leaders and political aides -- racked up $7.3 million in American Express charges between 2007 and 2010, those fat AmEx expenditures actually represented less than 15 percent of party expenses during that period.

It's a fact, said RPOF spokeswoman Katie Gordon Betta. The RPOF raised more than $50.9 million during the same period -- and spent more than it took in: $51.6 million.

The Republican Party of Florida released credit card records Friday containing more than $7 million in charges racked up by 31 Republicans -- not all of them household names, not all of them even party leaders.

Nevertheless, the release of such records would have been virtually unnecessary had Gov. Charlie Crist not vetoed a bill that would have allowed more transparency in fundraising and expenditures. The bill would have created so-called party affiliation committees through which expenditure reports by both Republicans and Democrats would have been more detailed.

Seeking higher ground in the investigation of the Republican Party's deepening financial swamp, Gov. Charlie Crist could end up sinking his own U.S. Senate campaign.

Crist's call for a federal probe of party credit-card use "may end up working as well as the rest of his campaign tacks — in other words, it may backfire," Robert Costa of National Review wrote Wednesday.

What did Gov. Charlie Crist know about Jim Greer’s alleged shenanigans and when did he know it?

And shouldn’t the media be looking just as deeply into the fundraising and expenditure records of the Florida Democratic Party?