Is Michael Steele violating a major RNC rule to help Mark Kirk?

Champion News ^ | August 27, 2009 | Doug Ibendahl

[BillyBoy]

Is Michael Steele violating a major RNC rule to help Mark Kirk?

Posted: August 27, 2009

By Doug Ibendahl

 

The Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Michael Steele was a guest Tuesday morning on the Don Wade & Roma radio show on WLS 890 AM.

 

Friends told me about the interview so I listened to the Podcast. I was immediately reminded why I stopped listening to Don & Roma several years ago - after once having been a loyal listener. Tuesday's show was another pollyannaish lovefest with a mind-numbing amount of empty chatter. (Of course keep in mind WLS is the same Chicago radio station that now hosts the Rod Blagojevich show for two hours every Sunday.)

 

You can listen to the Don Wade & Roma segment with Michael Steele here.

 

The discussion about Mark Kirk starts six-and-a-half minutes into the segment. Host Don Wade asks Michael Steele: "Is the National Republican Party going to financially support Mark Kirk?"

 

Steele gushingly responds: "Oh my gosh - yeah!" Steele and the hosts then continue with fawning prattle in praise of the pro-gun grabbing, pro-homosexual agenda, pro-abortion, and pro-largest tax increase in history Mark Kirk. (Review Kirk's entire pro-liberal Democrat record here.)

 

During the interview there is not even a peep about the fact that Kirk has several announced Republican primary opponents.

 

Here's the problem for Steele. It's the RNC's own Rule 11 which states in part:

 

"The Republican National Committee shall not, without the prior written and filed approval of all members of the Republican National Committee from the state involved, contribute money or in-kind aid to any candidate for any public or party office except the nominee of the Republican Party or a candidate who is unopposed in the Republican primary after the filing deadline for that office."

 

In other words, the RNC promises it won't get involved in a Republican primary unless the three RNC members from that state have so authorized in writing.

 

Those three members from each state are the State Party Chairman, Republican National Committeeman, and the Republican National Committeewoman.

 

Pat Brady now has two of the three spots. He was already National Committeeman. Then last Thursday Andy McKenna resigned as State Chairman after the old guard decided he was finally used-up. Brady was given that title too in yet another backroom farce, so he's now pulling double duty as the anti-reform faction's stooge.

 

There is zero doubt Brady would sign-off on whatever pro-Kirk paperwork was put in front of him. Brady may have a reputation for picking fistfights on the street - but there's no record of him fighting for the Republican Platform.

 

So that leaves our National Committeewoman Demetra DeMonte. To my knowledge she has not endorsed Kirk. The last time I spoke with her a couple of weeks ago she said she was getting tremendous pressure to endorse Kirk, but she was holding firm. Let's hope that hasn't changed.

 

If Steele does have the signed document as required by his own Rule 11, then he needs to produce it. Otherwise he shouldn't be going on Illinois radio stations promising financial help to one candidate during a primary.

 

In fact it doesn't even matter if the RNC hasn't actually written a check to Kirk's campaign yet. Just the fact that Steele in his capacity as RNC Chairman was publicly campaigning on the radio for Kirk - and Kirk alone - would clearly fall within the "in-kind aid" prohibited by Rule 11.

 

To make matters worse, last December when Steele was campaigning for the RNC Chairmanship he said this in a response to a questionnaire (see question 27):

 

"To regain our credibility as the party of conservative principles, we need to identify and recruit talented candidates who will carry those principles into battle. I will support recruitment efforts wherever we don't have an existing Republican candidate. I am not inclined to even attempt to pick winners in Republican primaries. I will support Republican nominees - all Republican nominees." [Emphasis added.]

 

It looks like that campaign promise has gone out the window.

 

Michael Steele's office at the RNC refused to comment when contacted by Champion News for this article.

 

A similar dustup over the misuse of the Party franchise is going on in Florida right now. There, Republican Governor Charlie Crist is making a run for U.S. Senate. He's got a strong Republican challenger in conservative Marco Rubio. Republican activists have been rebelling all over Florida in response to some top party officials who are giving aid in the primary to the liberal Crist over the conservative Rubio. There's even a website called Not One Red Cent! urging Republicans to withhold contributions from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRCC) because it has sided with Crist in the primary.

 

Illinois Republicans should follow the lead of their Florida brethren. Steele has already proven to be a big disappointment at the RNC and Pat Brady's presence there is truly alarming.

 

And when it comes to the Illinois Republican Party, it goes without saying by now that no Republican should be contributing there until some accountability is restored with the passage of SB600.

 

Until our State Central Committee is accountable to Republican voters in real elections, there's not going to be proper oversight. Your hard earned money will keep being squandered like this.

 

Finally, you might want to take a moment to tell Chairman Steele to stay out of our Republican primary. Tell him if he wants to shill for candidates who are pro-gun grabbing, pro-homosexual agenda, pro-abortion, and pro-largest tax increase in history - he should have run for Chairman of the DNC.

 

Here are all the email addresses listed on the RNC's website as public contacts. There's nothing wrong with sending your message to all of them at once: Chairman@gop.com; Administration@gop.com; Counsel@gop.com; Finance@gop.com; MemberRelations@gop.com; coalitions@gop.com; Info@gop.com; RNCommunications@gop.com; Political@gop.com; Membershipservices@gop.com; ecampaign@gop.com.

 

 

Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party. He is Co-Founder of Republican Young Professionals (RYP).

[BillyBoy]

Interesting article and very disturbing if true. Sounds like Steele better "clarify" that the RNC 'financially supporting Kirk' would apply ONLY if he wins the party nomination in 2010, otherwise Steele is violating RNC rules by providing help to a particular candidate in a primary field without written consent of the state party officials.

For those of you unfamiliar with Chicago area politics, Don Wade is a local "conservative" radio talk show host who has been known for "hard edged conservative commentary" for 20 years and taking pot shots at liberals like Jesse Jackson and Ron Blagojevich. But anyone who's tuned into his show a few times knows that Don is a "close personal friend of Congressman Kirk" and regularly gives the RINO free air time to talk about whatever feel good B.S. he wants, heaping praise on whatever Kirk says and never challenging any of Kirk's leftist record or even bringing it up unless it's an offhand way where Kirk can spin it and do damage control.

Some freepers have defended "conservative" Don Wade before and claimed his endless Kirk butt-kissing is okay as long as Don Wade allows the other U.S. Senate candidates on the show sometime to present their views. As you can see from the article above, Wade won't even mention them or give them the time of day (and I'm pretty sure he intends to keep his Kirk monopoly right up to the February primary election). Wade is another mainstream media shrill who would have us believe Kirk is the only Republican running for the Senate and is the savior of the Illinois GOP.

The constant media drumbeat for Kirk and the state and national party "leaders" lining up to help him is disgusting, IMO.

[Steamburg]

Michael Steele is one more reason the Demrats feel better about 2010 and why 57% of America wants them all out!

[Rapscallion]

Steele is a lightweight. He should not have the job. After he was selected I became an independent, like may Republicans (and democrats) are doing.

[BillyBoy]

=================================

MARK KIRK TRUTH FILE
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM

" "The GREENEST candidate in the race... better than Barack Obama!"
- Carol Calabresa/The Sierra Club, 2008
" The strength of our campaign remains the Democrats"
- Mark Kirk, 2008

Freepmail me to get ON or OFF this list.

===================================================

You guys will like this article. Two RINOs for the price of one: commentary on Mark Kirk AND Charlie Crist. I thought it provided some cool analysis about internal RNC rules I didn't know about before. Plus we have Steele's pledge when he was elected Chairman to not to get involved in primary races as a matter of public record. Food for thought.

=================================

MARK KIRK TRUTH FILE
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM

" "The GREENEST candidate in the race... better than Barack Obama!"
- Carol Calabresa/The Sierra Club, 2008
" The strength of our campaign remains the Democrats"
- Mark Kirk, 2008

Freepmail me to get ON or OFF this list.

===================================================

You guys will like this article. Two RINOs for the price of one: commentary on Mark Kirk AND Charlie Crist. I thought it provided some cool analysis about internal RNC rules I didn't know about before. Plus we have Steele's pledge when he was elected Chairman to not to get involved in primary races as a matter of public record. Food for thought.

MARK KIRK TRUTH FILE
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM

" "The GREENEST candidate in the race... better than Barack Obama!"
- Carol Calabresa/The Sierra Club, 2008
" The strength of our campaign remains the Democrats"
- Mark Kirk, 2008

MARK KIRK TRUTH FILE
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM

" "The GREENEST candidate in the race... better than Barack Obama!"
- Carol Calabresa/The Sierra Club, 2008
" The strength of our campaign remains the Democrats"
- Mark Kirk, 2008

[stephenjohnbanker]

The Republican Party has still not learned its lesson.

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm pretty definitely convinced that Obama is intentionally harming the US. I consider him mostly evil but possibly stupid.

I'm only slightly convinced that Michael Steel is intentionally harming the GOP. I consider him mostly stupid but possibly evil.

[jmaroneps37]

http://www.collinsreport.net/2009/03/03/michael-steele-you%e2%80%99re-an-affirmative-action-choice-who-can%e2%80%99t-cut-it-stop-embarrassing-us-and-resign/

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

not much above those eyebrows, is there?

[trisham]

Steele, McCain, Romney, et al. are not conservatives.

Michael Steele on Civil Rights

Support affirmative action and its improvements. (Oct 2006)

Affirmative action programs still necessary to close divides. (Aug 2006)

Marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman and God only. (May 2006)

We're still discovering affirmative action in corporations. (Apr 2006)

Led commitment to $70M in grants to minority-owned business. (Apr 2006)

Affirms marriage is between one man and one woman. (Jan 2006)

Move struggle to right to own the diner, not just sit in it. (Oct 2005)

[Mark was here]

A RNC rule? There are no RNC rules anyone in the RNC gives a damn about? When have they even stuck to the platform? Think spending restraint.

[bamahead]

And RINO in chief John McVain has already thrown his weight behind Kirk...says all you need to know about him:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2328512/posts

Won’t even give the more conservative primary opponents a look, huh Mr. Steele? This party hasn’t a clue.

[PhilCollins]

Steele should stay out of the primary and/or resign. If he quits, who should replace him? I hope that the new chairman would be Asa Hutchison. He was chairman of the Arkansas GOP, 1993-’97; U.S. rep., 1997-2001; Head of the DEA, 2001-’03; and a deputy secretary of Homeland Security, 2003-’05.

[rogue yam]

Steele is continuing the work of McCain. He is a force for America’s destruction.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Katon Dawson. Best state chairman in the nation.

[staytrue]

Is Michael Steele violating a major RNC rule to help Mark Kirk?

There are no "rules" regarding this. He should stay neutral except in unusual circumstances but there are no "rules"

In LA governors race was a three way non partisan race with David Duke, Lavelle Edwards aka "the silver zipper" and David Treen. The republican party came in with money and endorsements (including President Bush 41) for Treen, but Duke and the democrat Edwards finished 1-2 and they went to a run off. The republican party then supported democrat Edwards (in spite of his sexual escapades) over republican Duke. The republicans were passing out bumper stickers that read "vote for the crook (Edwards)". Edwards did win and eventually was indicted and went to jail with 100,000 in cash found in his briefcase.

The democrats also did the same when some nitwit won the primary in Dan Burton's district. They sued to remove him from the ballot. I think he was under indictment for armed robbery at the time. Burton eventually won that election.

[fieldmarshaldj]

You mean David Duke, Edwin Edwards and Buddy Roemer, the incumbent Governor who switched to the GOP while in office. Dave Treen was not in the ‘91 race.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

"Oh my gosh - yeah!

[LibLieSlayer]

steele is a rino by and for rinos only... I listen to him sub for bill bennett... he is the king of rinos.

LLS

[staytrue]

You are correct, it is edwin edwards.

Apologies to Lavelle Edwards who I think is the head coach of the BYU football team.

[fieldmarshaldj]

LA races were problematic for us, because with the jungle primaries, with everyone competing against everyone else, you could declare yourself whatever party you wanted. Gov. Roemer had been heavily courted to switch earlier in ‘91, I believe with the presumption that since no other serious Republicans were going to run, Roemer would be used to stop David Duke, who was a State Rep at the time. Duke would be a nightmare for us because he declared himself a Republican without a proper vetting that a usual primary would often prevent in states where you didn’t have all the candidates competing at once (I personally think a lot of mischievous Democrats voted for Duke in the jungle, while a lot of mischievous Republicans probably voted for Edwards). When Roemer placed an embarrassing 3rd, it forced the national party to endorse Edwards — “Vote for the crook, it’s important !” As it turned out, Duke was a crook, too.