HADDONFIELD, N.J. - A Washington political watchdog is calling for an audit of campaign spending by U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews after examining a finance report that shows the New Jersey Democrat spent $12,000 for a trip to California last year during which his 16-year-old daughter, an aspiring singer, had a music recording session.

Melanie Sloan, the executive director of Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, says she wants to know whether Andrews had legitimate political business in Los Angeles. She said the Federal Elections Commission should investigate , or perhaps federal prosecutors should.

"It looks bad. It's always possible there's a reasonable explanation," she said. "I doubt his explanation will be sufficient."

Fran Tagmire, a campaign spokesman for Andrews, said in an email that the expenditures were "legal and proper." He said Andrews did fundraising, had political meetings with "members of the higher education community, two separate foreign policy advocacy groups, and various members of the entertainment and legal industries." He did not detail which groups he met with.

And he said that 16-year-old Josie Andrews participated in the trip , though her exact role was not clear.

"The full public disclosure of these legal and proper expenses, including the accompaniment of his minor daughter and her participation, is consistent with the law in all respects," Tagmire said.

Tagmire said California has typically been one of Andrews' top states for donations. From October through December of last year, he brought in just under $200,000 in donations. Of them, $9,750 were from people or organizations with California addresses.

Andrews flew to Los Angeles and San Diego in mid-November, according to campaign finance filings.

The website of Vendetta, a record company, shows photos of Josie in her music recording session at Paramount Recording Studio in Hollywood in mid-November.

Sloan said that it would be allowable if Andrews did personal business during a fundraising trip. But a disclosure his campaign filed last month with the FEC shows he collected just one contribution from California during that timeframe , a $5,000 donation from the political action committee of Bridgeport Education Inc., in San Diego.

The records show much more spending than that , including more than $7,000 for what appears to be several airline tickets between Philadelphia and Los Angeles purchased on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, $3,200 at the Beverly Hills Plaza hotel, more than $1,500 on limousines and under $100 for meals.

Andrews, a member of Congress since 1990, has come under scrutiny in the past for the way he has used campaign money.

Last year, he reimbursed more than $13,000 to his campaign to repay money he used to take his family to a wedding in Scotland. His campaign then donated the money to a charity for homeless veterans.

He's been criticized for spending more than $10,000 last year on a party celebrating his 20 years in Congress and his older daughter's high school graduation. And there was criticism of his campaign's donations of tens of thousands of dollars to Philadelphia theaters , sometimes within months of a daughter appearing in one of their productions.

,,,

Follow Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

,,,

Information from: Courier-Post, http://www.courierpostonline.com/