Will the Michael Steele fallout grow at RNC?
In the wake of the resignation of Chief of Staff Ken McKay and departure of strategist Curt Anderson, a GOP consultant tells me that staffers at all levels of the RNC are eyeing the exits, frustrated by the latest in a series of debacles that have tarnished the committee’s image and weakened its fundraising prowess.
“People are sending out resumes,” the consultant says. “[T]his is another shoe that has dropped.”
This is happening at all levels of the RNC, my source adds. “[R]eal numbers, all levels…you have to imagine how hard it is on these guys. People at the commitees like to win and they get what is happening.”
Where will these staffers head if and when jobs come through? One of the ironies of the faux-lesbian bondage imbroglio, and indeed the entire Steele era, is that the hits to the RNC’s prestige have been coupled with its diminishing institutional importance to the Republican party. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, for instance, has opened a back channel for groups seeking to fund Republicans in Congressional recess (see, for instance, the new 527 group American Crossroads headed, among others, by former RNC chair Mike Duncan).
So it’s easy to imagine that RNC staffers who make the leap will enjoy a soft landing.
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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