With the Republican Party’s luminaries gathering in New Orleans late last week for the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Michael Steele’s closest allies were tired of speculation the embattled Republican National Committee chairman would be ousted, so they took matters into their own hands. On Thursday as the SRLC was kicking off, the roughly 20 Steele supporters dubbed the “kitchen cabinet” started working the phones and in 12 hours pulled in as many RNC members as they could to sign a letter stating once and for all that Steele would be staying.
One RNC member said in an interview that the letter came just in time, since the infighting was becoming a real threat to the party’s success. “It got so bad I was calling people to say, ‘Stop this,’ to tell people to focus on 2010 and stop worrying about who is chairman,” the member told me. “People griping about Steele are fanning the flames of this distraction, adding to the problem and are not helping the party.”
The letter the informal group crafted was simple: four paragraphs aimed at shutting down the growing buzz that Steele might be in trouble. The letter cited Republican election victories in Virginia, Massachusetts and New Jersey, along with “solid” fundraising, in support of Steele. It closed with, “We stand behind Chairman Steele as he continues to lead us on the path victory in November.” By the end of the day the letter reached 58 signatories, which proved there was no mathematical way for Steele to get the boot: two-thirds of the 168 members must vote to fire a chairman.
The letter was released publicly on Friday, the day before Steele was to address the SRLC. It came after an awful few weeks during which Steele was accused of mismanaging the party’s funds and several high-level RNC staffers were fired after one staffer spent $2,000 of RNC money at a bondage-themed nightclub. It’s too early to say whether the letter will stave off firing rumors through November, but the SLRC ended with Steele still at the helm of the party — even if his speech at the event Saturday got a tepid reception.
Several RNC members shared these behind-the-scenes details about how the informal cabinet of Steele allies closed ranks around the chairman. They said it was an orchestrated effort to squash the death watch they felt was being pushed by the press, Washingtonians close to Karl Rove and would-be Steele successors. Each supporter in Steele’s “kitchen cabinet” was assigned members to call by region. When someone agreed to sign the letter their name was added, and the letter went public with 31 signatories. Another 17 signees came on board within hours of the letter’s release on Friday, then an additional 10.
RNC member Shawn Steel, part of the “kitchen cabinet,” said it was easy to pull together a list of Steele supporters from every region and from big states and small states. “Members were eager to show their universal appreciation,” Steel told me.
The members I interviewed suggested Steele himself had little to do with the letter, put together quickly just as a little known North Carolina party chairman, Tom Fetzer, and another North Carolina member were calling for Steele to resign. An RNC spokesman told me the effort for the letter began “organically,” and was member-driven.
California State Party Chairman Ron Nehring helped put together the letter effort. On Friday he tweeted out his assessment: “RNC Chairman Steele safe as more members show support. Now, let’s get on with defeating Nancy Pelosi.”
An RNC member from the Northeast said despite the letter of confidence, members view Steele as a “distraction,” when Republicans have more opportunities in front of them than in recent memory. The member told me that if the party fares well in November’s midterm elections, many members believe it will be despite the chairman, not thanks to him.
“After November all bets are off,” the member told me in an interview.
Not everyone agrees — I was told that the “kitchen cabinet,” with members hailing from Maryland to California, expects to unite again to help Steele seek reelection as chairman come January.
