North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Tom Fetzer has called upon Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to resign — an event that is believed to be the first time a state GOP chair (and first RNC member) has openly called for Steele to quit.
“Recent events, regardless of who is to blame, have made it difficult if not impossible for you to lead the party in the direction that it needs to go,” Fetzer wrote in a letter to Steele. “I believe that the best service you can render to your party at this critical juncture is to graciously step aside and allow the party to move on from this current quagmire.”
North Carolina GOP spokesman Jordan Shaw told TPMDC that Fetzer, former mayor of Raleigh, first became state party chairman in June 2009, and did not have a vote in the January 2009 RNC leadership contest, which was won by Steele. “He did, however, support Michael Steele’s candidacy and saw him as a passionate, positive leader for the party at that time,” Shaw told TPMDC in e-mail.
Shaw did not know whether Fetzer gave any direct assistance to Steele’s campaign for chairman.
