Just in case you thought that RNC Chairman Michael Steele was spreading his stilted fake urban banter and bizarre witticisms around the country solely to forward the Republican agenda and keep the minority party’s viewpoint in the public eye, he’s not.
He’s getting an assload of money for speaking engagements, and apparently it’s not something that party Chairmen normally do.
I am so tempted to pull a “Perez Hilton” and draw some inappropriate graffiti on his picture right now.
Michael S. Steele, Republican National Committee chairman, is using his title to market himself for paid appearances nationwide, personally profiting from speeches with fees of up to $20,000 at colleges, trade associations and other groups – an unusual practice criticized by a string of past party chairmen.
Mr. Steele, elected in January to the $223,500-a-year RNC post, is working with at least four outside agencies in Washington, New York, Boston and Nashville, Tenn., that book the speaking engagements. He charges between $8,000 and $20,000 for an address, plus first-class travel and lodging expenses.
Former RNC Chairmen seem genuinely shocked.
“Holy mackerel, I never heard of a chairman of either party ever taking money for speeches,” said Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., RNC chairman under President Reagan and CEO of the American Gaming Association.
“The job of a national chairman is to give speeches. That’s what the national party pays him for. We didn’t have a rule book back then, but being national chairman was and is a full-time job,” Mr. Fahrenkopf said.
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson, who served in that position from 1997 to 2000 and was President George W. Bush’s Veterans Affairs secretary from 2005 to 2007, said 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.”
We’re at a time in history when Democrats are more hated than ever before, and yet the Republican Party cannot out poll the made-up fictional Tea Party among independents. Maybe if this clown was performing his duties instead of lining his pockets, that wouldn’t be the case. This guy was a joker from the beginning, and I said so at the time. Steele has to go.
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