RNC Funding Northern Mariana Islands
By Reid Wilson
The RNC has transferred $20K to the Northern Mariana Islands in the past 2 months, according to FEC reports, in what could be support for local candidates or, RNC critics say, political payback.
The transfers, made in Oct. and Nov., are a tiny fraction of the $6M RNC chair Michael Steele has sent to state parties. But the money to the small island territory with a population around 86K is a strange investment for a national party: The Northern Mariana Islands have no voting members of Congress and no electoral votes to offer the GOP's eventual pres. nominee.
Instead, the transfers could be political payback for votes at the RNC. Steele won his race to head the national GOP with backing from the committee's 5 island constituencies -- the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Under RNC rules, each territory has as many voting members on the committee as a state, giving the Northern Mariana Islands as much sway over the committee as, say, TX or CA.
Traditionally, the islands vote as a bloc, and in early rounds of voting, that bloc mostly backed ex-MI GOP chair Saul Anuzis. But Anuzis dropped out after 5 ballots, and representatives of the island bloc met with both remaining candidates -- Steele and ex-SC GOP chair Katon Dawson -- to seek a deal.
Insiders said the islands sought a financial commitment from the eventual chair; Dawson refused, and the island votes went to Steele. Steele advisors have denied a deal was cut.
RNC spokesperson Gail Gitcho told Hotline OnCall the money was sent to the Northern Mariana Islands "to help them win elections."
The GOP candidate in the '09 GOV race, Rep. Heinz Hofschneider, lost a runoff to incumbent Gov. Benigno Fitial (Covenant Party), by a 51%-49% margin.
A review of RNC disbursements over the first 10 months of Steele's chairmanship shows he has been generous with state parties. In total, the committee has transfered just over $6M to parties, though the bulk -- $4.5M -- went to VA, where the GOP won a Dem-held GOV seat. The RNC has also sent $464K to NY, where they contested, but lost, 2 special elections for open House seats.
The figures do not include in-kind contributions and staff assistance. NJ, where the GOP beat an incumbent Dem GOV, received just $13.5K, because the RNC had to abide by state laws regulating direct party transfers. But the RNC spent hundreds of thousands more employing staffers in the state, helping Gov.-elect Chris Christie (R) pull out the victory.
Meanwhile, the RNC has donated $2M each to the NRCC and the NRSC, both of which have significantly less CoH than their Dem rivals.
Steele, whose tenure at the RNC has been marked by controversy over several statements he has made, was in the news last month for accepting pay for speeches he gave at several universities and other events. He has also published a book, billed as a "12-step program for defeating the Obama agenda."
The book, "Right Now," hit store shelves today. Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich penned a forward on Steele's behalf, and early reviews from conservative pundits laud the tome as a battle plan for returning to the majority.
Is this right? Can anyone possibly be this stupid? The NRSC and NRCC are hurting for $$$ and this idiot is sending scarce cash to the Mariana Islands???? For what?
Give me a break. Obama thinks there are 57 states and said so during the campaign. Steele knows NMI are a U.S. territory at least. Of course, Obama gave hundreds of millions of dollars in stimulus monies to Congressional Districts that do not exist. Maybe the phantom districts will be entitled to seats in the House after the redistricting? That's the Chicago way....
Republicans (RNC delegates) elected Steele by a majority vote. Supporting those that support you, is called politics. However, Steele has gone out of his way to treat all States and territories equally. I know this for a fact -- for instance-- in my State, most of the delegation did not support or vote for Steele. However, he has been very generous with this State and he has made a big difference. Qudos for him.
Maybe its time for those who want to criticsize, to start working as hard as he does. Steele is doing a very good job in difficult times.
Steele is an ineffectual, lightweight hack.
Dede Scazzafazzo, Steele's unprecedented demand for personal speaking fees and now this: is it any wonder that contributors are bypassing the RNC to give their money to specific candidates.
Time for Steele to go. He was never anything but a GOP affirmative action case to begin with - now he's an embarrassment.
Steele is getting his legs and is starting to learn that the entire GOP is going CenterRight and he is encouraging it. It is not Steele's job to set the agenda but the RNC could do a real important job if it followed his 12 steps, Newt's Contract idea and even Sean Hannity's 6 steps to win. I would not give up on him and we shall see just how the moola is distributed to the most important districts that could actually fall to the GOP. He supports a strong national security and that needs to be advertised.
Any monies sent to the NMI will just disappear, "That money is gone" is a common refrain with no real accounting. Corruption and cronyism are SOP for the NMI, a place where Asian women are imported to be prostitutes for Japanese male tourists.
"Obama thinks there are 57 states and said so during the campaign."
Yawn. Does your 11 year old brain really believe that?
Or does typing it again and again somehow gratify you in a mastubatory indulgent way?
Smart Republican,Obama acually said that,57 States. You sound like a closet Democrat to me.
Northern Mariana Islands houses Christian dominated sweat shops connected to Robert Reed that get huge tax breaks. This has been well documented.
The garment factories in CNMI (Saipan) have been out of business since the late 90s, but that fact does not mitigate the fact that corruption, political and otherwise, runs rampant here. Any $$ sent to CNMI enter a black hole where jobs go to the relatives of "elected officials" and nothing is ever improved.
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