Filed under: News
Chairman Steele's tenure has been studded with public embarrassments, leading to further disenchantment with his figure as a black leader. And now the RNC has become financially insolvent while under his leadership. The Washington Post reports:
In its most recent filing with the FEC -- detailing fundraising and disbursements through Oct. 13 -- showed the RNC with $4.5 million in debt and $3.8 million on hand. It is not unusual, however, for national party committees to go into debt in the final weeks of a campaign as they do anything and everything they can to maximize their gains (or minimize their losses) at the ballot box.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele has come under withering criticism in the weeks since the election for the financial performance of the committee during the 2010 cycle.
The most pointed of that criticism came from Gentry Collins, the committee's political director, who penned a four-page resignation letter detailing the problems with the RNC.
Collins' main point of criticism was the RNC's fundraising operation and, in particular, Steele's alleged inability to attract major donors. "During the 2010 cycle, the RNC allowed its major donor base to wither," wrote Collins -- adding that the committee had raised $284 million in the 2002 cycle and $243 million in the 2006 cycle as compared to just $170 million in 2010. (One note: Republicans controlled the White House in 2002 and 2006, a major fundraising boon for the national party committees.)
The aftermath of this accusation? The resignation of the RNC's chief administrative officer -- after sending an email to its creditors stating that the RNC will not be paying its 2010 bills until next year. Things are not looking good for the Republican National Committee or Michael Steele on the financial front. And if both the organization and its chairman cannot get it together soon, contenders such as Gentry Collins (the committee's political director, mentioned above) will be coming for Chairman Steele's job.
I am not usually a defender of conservatives, but I have to ask myself if Chairman Steele is coming under fire because he is black. It is clear that Steele was set up to make a statement by an organization with no real stake in supporting him politically. The desire for the Republicans to say "Look, we have a prominent black leader, too!" during a surge of voter enthusiasm demonstrating this desire brought Steele his position. But it's not enough to keep him there. Now that the public's fascination with Obama is beginning to tarnish, so is Steele's value to Republican leadership. And as a black man in a party that is hostile to African Americans, this decline in the RNC's fortunes is just the thing needed as an excuse to show Steele the door.
The fact that the RNC coffers are down could be a reflection of the fact that we don't have a Republican president, as the Post article suggests. But other RNC leaders, greedy for the throne, as using this fact as a reason to attack Steele, instead of his other clearly demonstrated flaws. I would usually be the first person to join in decrying the abilities of this black Republican, but in this particular case it seems that Steele is being attacked just for the sake of taking away his power -- perhaps because he was never wanted or respected for himself in the first place. Now that he's useless, Steele's enemies are going for blood. As the Washington Post notes "... Collins had already begun the process of weighing a run of his own for the RNC chairmanship before he resigned, which ... raise[s] real questions about his motivations in writing the letter." And Collins is just one of many Republican mentioned aching to snatch Steele's position.
Steele might lack many skills, but he might have made a better fundraiser if the RNC's political director had been on his side, instead of trying to take his job, and if the chief administrative officer had possessed the guts to support him instead of bailing when the going got tough. But as President Obama is finding, things are hard out there for a black leader who isn't perfect.
Who knew that on at least one issue President Obama and RNC Chairman Michael Steele might find common ground.