Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus on Wednesday brushed off criticism from his predecessor, Michael Steele, who argued that the GOP’s push for tougher voter identification laws is incompatible with the party’s newly launched efforts to reach out to minority communities.
Earlier in the day, Steele argued that the RNC would have a difficult time reconciling its minority outreach while many Republican leaders, including Priebus, champion voter ID laws viewed as discriminatory. Asked about the comment during an appearance on MSNBC, Priebus declined to address Steele’s point directly.
“I’m not gonna engage in an argument with Michael,” Priebus said before taking another thinly veiled swipe at Steele for leaving the RNC in financial disorder.
“The fact of the matter is you have to have the resources to be able to have an effective ground operation in minority communities. And one of the things that we’ve done at the RNC, and I don’t think anyone argues with this, is we’ve brought our financial condition back in order so we can actually hire hundreds of people across America, which is what this plan calls for.”
The remark was similar to another not-so-subtle dig Priebus levied at Steele earlier this week during the RNC’s unveiling of its 2012 autopsy. Steele fired back by noting that he enjoyed more electoral success as chairman than Priebus.
