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Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released a defiant statement... ...two GOP officials stepped down today -- top GOP donor Sam Fox stepped down from his position on an RNC fundraising committee, and Ken McKay stepped down as RNC Chief of Staff. In his statement, Steele announced he was appointing McKay's deputy, Mike Leavitt, to take his spot. According to a Republican close to the RNC, the elevation of Mike Leavitt -- who managed Steele's unsuccessful Senate campaign -- could spell more trouble for the RNC. Leavitt has been overseeing communications for the past two months, and during that...

Ann Coulter for one has refused to pour gasoline on the Voyeur fire - pledging her full support and offering praise for RNC Chairman Michael Steele. As Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos so touchingly pointed out to Steele, a few Republican leaders have been publicly highly critical of Steele and according to a "poll of insiders" only 20 percent consider him an asset to the party. "Everyone seemed to like him and recently it's like story after story after story - is this guy being villainized?" Fox Business Channel's Eric Bolling asked Coulter on the April 5 "Happy Hour."

Embattled GOP party boss Michael Steele said Monday he and President Obama share the same burden - they both get held to a tougher standard because they're black. "The honest answer is, yes," Steele said on "Good Morning America." "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do." That, said Steele, is "just the reality of it." The GOP chairman spoke out a day after several top Republicans raked him over the coals for lavish spending and after two sex-themed embarrassments rocked the GOP last week. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Steele was off-base.

Republican National Committee chief of staff Ken McKay has resigned in the wake of a controversy over an expenditure at a risque California nightclub, RNC communications director Doug Heye said Monday. McKay's resignation comes one week after the Daily Caller Web site reported that the RNC's January expenditure report included nearly $2,000 spent at Voyeur in West Hollywood, a topless nightclub. RNC officials worked to distance Chairman Michael Steele from the controversy -- insisting that not only was he not in attendance but that he had no knowledge of the reimbursement -- and promised changes in the way that people...

Do we have a POWERHOUSE replacement in the bull pen? I can't think of anyone that I would get really excited about that is available to us now. Do we stick with a pol or go with someone from the Media? Any thoughts? Pardon if this has been discussed. I have seen a hundred threads on dumping this clown, with which I agree whole heartedly, but can't remember seeing too many suggestions about with whom to replace him.

Soon after the nation elected its first black president, Michael S. Steele told a group of conservative bloggers that Barack Obama had "played the race card in reverse beautifully." Monday it was Steele, the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, who was accused of playing that "card." In an interview with ABC News's George Stephanopoulos, the chairman was asked whether being an African American gave him a "slimmer margin of error" than another chairman might have. He paused for a moment, then answered evenly. "The honest answer is 'yes,' " he said on "Good Morning America." "It just...

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele -- who really can't afford another 'holy ----" story after a GOP staffer dropped $1,900 at a lesbian-bondage themed Hollywood club and a top conservative called for an RNC donor boycott -- has hired a new "special assistant for finance." Although described by many as a smart, gifted and glib fundraiser, Neil S. Alpert, 31, who began work on March 29, probably won't do much to burnish Steele's image as a money manager. This is the same Neil S. Alpert who in July 2007 was ordered by the D.C. government to repay nearly $70,000...

In another serious blow to the Republican National Committee, one of its top fundraisers — and its few remaining connections to the traditional GOP donor base — has resigned a senior, unpaid position. Former Ambassador Sam Fox, a top supporter of George W. Bush who was one of the co-chairmen of the Republican Regents — the RNC's top-level fundraising board — has left the post, two Republican sources said. Fox, a Missouri businessman who was Bush's ambassador to Belgium, was one of the RNC's few remaining connections to the deep-pocketed Republican establishment and was viewed as the heaviest hitter among...

Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he won't resign despite calls for him to step down amid reports of the group's excessive spending, adding that he and other African-American leaders such as President Obama have a slimmer margin of error because of their race. RNC Chairman denies accusations that he is a liability to the Republican Party. "The honest answer is, 'yes,'" he said on "Good Morning America" today. "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do. It's a different role for me to play and others to play and that's just the reality of...

Steele: Criticism motivated by race By Jordan Fabian - 04/05/10 07:59 AM ET Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele on Monday brushed aside recent calls for him to resign, saying that harsh criticism from his opponents is motivated by race. In his first interview since it was revealed that the RNC reimbursed young donors for a nearly $2,000 party at a bondage-themed nightclub in Los Angeles, Steele said that black political leaders, such as President Barack Obama and him, are held to an unfair higher standard. "The honest answer is, 'yes,'" he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "Barack Obama...

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele defended his stewardship of party affairs Monday and dismissed criticism as the talk of GOP figures uncomfortable with his "streetwise" managerial style... Steele had already come under fire for committee spending on flights, limousines and high-end hotels, but he was not present at the Voyeur Hollywood West on Jan. 31 when a group of young Republicans ran a tab picked up by the RNC... But he also attributed his problem to "unnamed Republicans who don't like me." Steele was asked if he felt he has a smaller margin of error than others because he's black....

Embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said he won't resign despite calls for him to step down amid reports of the group's excessive spending, adding that he and other African-American leaders such as President Obama have a slimmer margin of error because of their race. "The honest answer is, 'yes,'" he said on "Good Morning America" today. "Barack Obama has a slimmer margin. A lot of folks do. It's a different role for me to play and others to play and that's just the reality of it. But you just take that as a part of the nature of...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele on if he will resign: "No, and I understand that. Of course they've been saying that since the day I got the job."

Two senior congressional Republicans on Sunday declined to express confidence in Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele after revelations that the RNC spent $2,000 entertaining potential contributors at a sex-themed nightclub. The controversy over Steele's leadership of the Republican National Committee comes as the party is hoping to seize back control of the U.S. Congress from President Barack Obama's Democrats in November congressional elections. But Steele's stewardship of the RNC is threatening to distract Republicans at a pivotal time. Asked whether Steele should step down, Senator Jon Kyl, the Senate's number two Republican, said on the "Fox News Sunday" program:...

Former Time White House correspondent (and Carter administration appointee) Margaret Carlson really wants RNC chairman Michael Steele fired. In her Bloomberg News column on Wednesday, she badly exaggerated: "In the world of fundraising scandals, this one makes former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to a Buddhist temple look as quaint as tea at Buckingham Palace."

GOP Chairman Michael Steele is a talented guy: smart, affable, telegenic, with a gift for gab. He ran a great race for US Senate from one of the toughest states for a Republican to win, Maryland. I should know, I lost my own Senate race there in 1986 and no Republican has won the seat in 30 years. But the best thing Steele could do now for the GOP is to step aside as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Steele has gotten a lot of bad press this week for gross (in every sense of the word) misspending of...

'Bondage-gate' spurs donor drain for RNC Thu Apr 1, 9:51 pm ET It's not bad enough that, for some time forward, the words "Republican National Committee" will be the most frequent phrase surfacing in online search terms using the words "West Hollywood bondage club." Now leaders of the RNC have to contend with the defection of key constituencies from the committee's donor base. The RNC had hoped that the fallout from the scandal known as "bondage-gate" would blow over when it fired Allison Meyers, the staffer who put in for reimbursed expenses for a January outing at the Voyeur sex...

The RNC’s lavish spending problems at racy nightclubs are bad enough. But I find RNC chairman Michael Steele’s meeting with open-borders zealots to be an even greater obscenity. The Soros/Tides/Ford/Rockefeller-funded Center for Community Change crowed yesterday that Steele gave them a “commitment” to “to help in securing Republican support for immigration reform:” Today, ten leaders with the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) met with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to discuss the future of comprehensive immigration reform in the Republican Party. They walked away with a commitment from Steele to work with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and the party’s...

Sarah Palin is refusing to be tied down by the Republican National Committee, days after the committee was found to have spent donors' money at an erotic, bondage-themed club. The former Alaska governor has asked the RNC to remove her name from an official invite to a New Orleans fundraiser next week, even though she'll be in the Big Easy for a separate GOP event. The one-time Republican vice presidential nominee "will not take part in any RNC fundraiser in New Orleans," an aide told Politico.com. The apparent snub comes days after federal disclosure forms showed the RNC spent nearly...

The Republican National Committee has fired the staffer who charged the party committee for the nearly $2,000 bill from an outing at a topless nightclub, Politico reports. The unnamed staffer was aware the outing was not eligible for reimbursement but nevertheless convinced GOP donor Erik Brown, a California businessman, to pick up the tab and seek out reimbursement, according to Politico. The trip to Voyeur in West Hollywood, a bondage-themed club featuring topless dancers, reportedly followed a RNC event for its "Young Eagles" donors. Brown has reportedly agreed to pay back the funds. The RNC said in a statements its...