Trouble At RNC HQ

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/021807.php

TROUBLE AT RNC HQ.... Publicly, Republican leaders seem optimistic about their future and believe they're due for an electoral rebound. Privately, all is not well at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

Some wealthy contributors are shunning the Republican National Committee and donating instead to the other GOP campaign committees or directly to candidates -- in many cases because of discontent with the leadership of Michael S. Steele, the party's national chairman.

"I don't plan to give to the Republican National Committee this cycle, and no other major donor I know is planning to either," Christine Toretti, a Pennsylvania RNC member and a longtime major donor to the RNC and other GOP campaign committees and causes, told The Washington Times. <...>

Lawrence Bathgate, who served a record three times as RNC finance chairman during and after the Reagan era, told The Times, "No, I haven't given to the RNC this cycle."

Looking back over the last year, Republican officials have raised all kinds of concerns about Steele's management: his reckless spending, his odd personnel decisions, his willingness to address policy matters that actual Republican lawmakers wanted him to remain silent on, his tendency to use his position to line his own pockets, his habit of making humiliating gaffes, etc.

But the RNC, which is accustomed to robust fundraising, is getting hit where it hurts, entire because some of the RNC's top donors lack confidence in the party's chairman.

The discontent has not gone unnoticed by Steele.

RNC Chairman Michael Steele is lashing out his critics, with a series of blunt messages for prominent Republicans who have blasted him over his leadership for the Republican Party.

"I tell them to get a life. That's old Washington, that's old ways, and I don't represent that, and that kills them," Steele told ABC News Radio in an interview today.

"I'm telling them and I'm looking them in the eye and say I've had enough of it. If you don't want me in the job, fire me. But until then, shut up. Get with the program or get out of the way."

Steele's defensiveness tells us something significant -- this has gone beyond just behind-the-scenes sniping. The chairman of a major political party doesn't usually tell the skeptics within his party to "shut up" and "get a life" unless he's feeling quite a bit of heat.

My suspicion is that unsatisfied Republicans won't appreciate the "get with the program or get out of the way" sentiment, and Steele's troubles are poised to get worse.

—Steve Benen

[SoCalDem]

1. Many of the old-timers feel "snookered".. They did not expect

"the black guy" to win that goofball election they had. Steele won by default, and then there was no way to NOT keep him, or they would truly be exposed as the racists we all know them to be..but by withholding funds, they can "drain the bathtub", and force him to fail.. a failure, they can remove..black or white..

[Parker CA]

2. I give Steele six months before he's done and a new fool is in place.

[Captain Hilts]

3. I've been waiting for a rebellion against Steele, as there was against Gilmore. Both STOOOPID. nt

[randr]

4. With my tinfoil hat on

I think the use of Steele is a well crafted move by the repugs to appeal to their racist base. Steele is a caricature of the "foolish negro". A mythological representation of black America. Once the races heat up he will be dust under the carpet.
I just don't know if Steele, the man, is aware of how he is being used.

[Festivito]

5. Steele is just a SCAPEGOAT to hide the real funding drops.

Some Repubs woke up! Some are here at DU. They don't contribute to the lying stealing CONs anymore.

[metapunditedgy]

6. And when Steele steps down before the elections, there will be a flood

of donations from the far-right wing of the GOP. Just in time to "energize the base."

That's my current scenario.

[JBoy]

7. I'm surprised he's lasted this long. He's such a lightweight compared to Dean.

[ieoeja]

8. Funny. Establishment Dems hated our last chairman.

And he went on to record fundraising.

Of course, if you're an advocate for the people, you don't need quite as much of the establishment. Just another sign of the times for the GOP.