From 1976 to 2012, politicians took the phrase “political party” a bit too literally by using taxpayer funds to help pay for the stages, confetti, balloons, food, and booze at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.{/div} Each party secured $17.7 million for the 2012 conventions, removing money from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund that would be worth $50.2 million today.

That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.

Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname “Dr. No” by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn’t stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.

Coburn’s Wastebook 2011 included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth nearly $7 billion, including the fanfare at Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s nominating conventions.

The Presidential Election Campaign Fund is funded by a checkoff box on tax returns. Individuals can opt to send $3 of their bill to the Fund instead of the Treasury.

For decades, there were few restrictions on how the money could be spent. Other eligible expenses, besides the party goods, included “entertainment, catering, transportation, hotel costs, production of candidate biographical films” and more, according to Coburn.

The Washington Examiner reported that in 2008, the fund paid for a $26,000 bill at a luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel for the DNC. The RNC used $32,250 for “speech coaching services” and $87.50 for a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.

Obama and Romney were the last candidates to take advantage. Obama signed a bill in 2014 that shifted the money away from financing conventions and to pediatric medical research.

Most of the public funding for the DNC and RNC is still in place today because it is used by the Department of Justice to provide security at the events.

It’s much less wasteful than buying party streamers, but it’s still a large bill for taxpayers. The government began providing security in 2004 — the first convention since the Sept. 11 attacks — and has spent $650 million since.

Politicians had plenty to celebrate when taxpayer funding was so readily available for their use but thankfully cooler heads prevailed.

(The #WasteOfTheDay is from forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com via RealClearWire.)