The next election year should by all historical standards be a great one for the Republican Party, nationwide and in California.  But Republicans in California are not as united as they could be to capitalize on the usual historical trend and beat back the liberals.  During 2009, some of our California Republican elected officials – our leaders – have voted contrary to their explicit promises to oppose new taxes, sullying our "brand" as the pro-taxpayer party.  The backlash these deviationists have caused has instigated nothing less than an on-going "purge" in our California party; another unwelcome development, in my opinion now over-the-top, for a Party that appears doomed to what I have termed "permanent super-minority status."   I didn’t sign up for that!  We need a Conservative-controlled California GOP with a capital "C," and we also need to win elections!  We could be doing both; but maybe that won’t happen so well next year, unless perhaps the deviationists get back to principles, and the purgers stop purging.

     With all the above in mind, I was a little distressed to read that the National Chairman of the Republican Party, on the eve of a potentially great national election year, has been making a lot of outside money – big money – off his job as the GOP’s national leader.  Today Ralph Hallow, a long-time political reporter for the Washington Times, reported that  Michael S. Steele, who gets paid $223,500 to be the Republican National Committee’s full-time Chairman, is receiving speaker’s fees up to $20,000 per speech, plus first class travel, and pocketing the money himself, speaking to trade associations and the like.  "Holy mackerel, I never heard of a chairman of either party ever taking money for speeches," said Frank J. Fahrenkopt Jr., the RNC Chairman during the Reagan Administration.  According to the report, Fahrenkopt added, "[t]he job of the national chairman is to give speeches!"  Emphasis added.

     Bill Pascoe, a national Republican activist and blogger, wrote today, "for the record, Rule 5(a)(1) of the Rules of the Republican Party declares that "Except as otherwise ordered by a majority of the members of the Republican National Committee present and voting on the matter, the chairman and the co-chairman shall be full-time, paid employees of the Republican National Committee.  Just what is meant by "full time?" Well, former RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson — for whom I once worked — told Hallow the job "demands so much of your time that you can work 24/7 and not get everything done, so taking time out to speak for the benefit of one’s own bank account is not appropriate."

     What Steele is doing hurts our party, and  now gives fodder to the Obama White House, to feed back to independents and disaffected Republicans, that fuels Democrats caricature of Republicans during the 2008 election cycle.  When questioned today about a reporter’s questions to Steele, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said "so how much did that interview cost someone?"

     Our success, and these times, call for leadership that is not compromised by "the side deals."  I hope our friend Shawn Steel, our California Republican National Committeeman, and someone who is not compromised by the personal finance "side deals," will help make the case to his friend Michael S. Steele that he, Steele (with an "e") needs to donate the money to the Republican Foundation, from now on.   The smart advice is that Steele will have plenty of time to make speeches and write books and make lots of money AFTER he does a good job, and we have a successful 2010 election cycle.  Otherwise, I think it is time for a quick purge at the RNC.    

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.