Demands for a quick end of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s tenure are sure to become louder and more insistent in the wake of revelations in Hotline on Call that the GOP’s top campaign organization spent more than $340,000 to send 33 staff members to Hawaii for a January semi-annual meeting.
This news comes as some party leaders are wondering where all the money raised by the RNC under Steele has gone and why there are questions about whether the GOP will be able to fund properly all of its congressional candidates in a mid-term election that offers an historic opportunity to regain majority power in Congress.
Based on FEC reports, Hotline says “the RNC spent $167K on facilities for the 3-day meeting, which took place at a posh resort in Waikiki. That figure doesn’t include rooms and office space for the party employees who staffed the meeting, which added up to at least another $90K.
“At least 33 RNC staffers and officials made the trip to HI, including top members of the political, communications and research departments, as first reported by Hotline OnCall. Party staff were reimbursed for meals and travel as part of the trip.”
Hotline said RNC communications director Doug Heye, who was not working at the committee in January when the meeting took place, declined to comment on the expenditures.
For more from Hotline, go here.
