Another day, another Michael Steele controversy. No wait, make that two. The Hill:
Republican infighting escalated Monday with allegations and denials over $4 million once destined for the party’s congressional campaign committees.
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele sought to placate critics by giving $1 million to each of his party’s debt-ridden campaign committees — a move that follows a month of bad reviews, national slip-ups and a high-profile fight with one of the country’s most famous conservatives. But sources told The Hill that Robert “Mike” Duncan, the former chairman, had written checks three times that size — for $3 million to each committee — before he left, and that Steele slashed them to the smaller number.That is a “lie,” says the RNC — and so another round of recrimination begins.
Meanwhile, what's up with the comically inept Request-for-Proposal for the contract to redesign the RNC's web site? TPM:
[T]he document's hilarious vagueness and notably short time frame haven't just provoked ridicule at the apparent incompetence of Michael Steele's RNC. They've also spurred one leading conservative blogger, Red State's Erick Erickson, to angrily suggest that Steele's team has already decided to give the contract to a favored firm, and sent out the RFP merely for the sake of optics....
[T]here's at least one web development firm that fits the bill as being close to Steele. That would be iWeb Strategies, a political web design company with a long list of conservative and GOP clients. In fact, one of those clients, according to the firm's website, was Steele himself, whose own now-defunct site, promoting his recent run for RNC chair, was designed by iWeb.
Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another great episode.
--Christopher Orr