Campaign

RNC candidates play ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ in ﬁnal week

by Reid Wilson - 01/26/09 5:56 PM ET

At least two of the top five contenders for the Republican National Committee chairmanship are offering boons to those who would back their candidacies.

As RNC members arrive in Washington before Wednesday’s winter meeting begins, candidates hoping to win the chairmanship have resorted to horse-trading tactics to bring in the votes. The next party chairman will be selected Friday with a simple majority.

{mosads}In interviews with The Hill, several committee members said former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and current RNC Chairman Robert “Mike” Duncan have put together deals in some form or other.

Duncan has been the most aggressive in doling out favors, according to several sources. He has already pledged to put staffers in each state, and surrogates have been handing out money at fortuitous times, the sources said.

Duncan’s aides deny that money has been offered. They said the chairman has only discussed how much it would cost to place a staffer in each state as part of Duncan’s “Partnership 2010,” which would send one staffer to each state in an effort to duplicate Democrats’ 50-state strategy.

“He still is chairman of the party, and obviously [he] still needs to talk to [state party chairmen] about funding for his proposed Partnership 2010,” said Chris Taylor, Duncan’s spokesman.

But committee members from across the country could not help but make a connection between a flurry of financial activity and the race for the chairmanship.

“When you’re offered money, it’s a gift horse,” said one RNC committee member.

Offering money to states would be seen as highly unusual, according to those who have been involved in RNC races before.

“That did not go on in my race that I was aware of,” said Jim Nicholson, who won election in a 1997 open race. “There may have been discussions about appointing members to certain committees of the RNC, but there was no discussion of money.”

Blackwell has offered positions to at least two voting committee members, including the chairmanship of one of the body’s top committees, according to sources. He is also the only candidate with a running mate, campaigning alongside RNC co-chairman candidate Tina Benkiser.

Blackwell aides declined to comment directly on the matter.

Those involved in the campaign say such horse-trading is far from extraordinary. “We’re not hiding the fact” that they are offering members positions, one aide to a candidate said.

“There are things being offered in terms of financial support for party efforts, or in some cases for positions being offered,” one state party chairman told The Hill. “There’s a lot of appointed positions that the chairman makes for the party.”

“There’s always an implication in something like this. If you get on board with somebody, you’re going to have a better chance of getting an appointment,” said Curly Haugland, a national committeeman from North Dakota who is backing South Carolina GOP chief Katon Dawson.

Aides to former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis say unequivocally they have not offered positions in exchange for votes. Some have suggested Dawson is cutting his own deals, though Dawson said he has made no offers for certain positions.

Amid rumors of possible power-sharing deals among multiple candidates, Steele told RNC members he had rejected overtures from a “senior Republican official” to join Duncan, according to an e-mail sent out Monday. Steele called the tale just one of the “silly rumors” going around.

The latest developments come as Duncan continues rolling out public endorsements — and attracting fire from others seeking to derail his candidacy.

Through the weekend, Duncan had released 36 public endorsements, far more than second-place Dawson, who had disclosed 20 public supporters.

“Duncan has done better than all of us expected,” one candidate confided.

Efforts to knock Duncan off have centered on what many members claim is a lack of attention to non-battleground states. Those who oppose him say Duncan ignored most states and favored others, limiting the party’s reach at a time when Democrats invested heavily even in strongly GOP states.

“We’ve felt in the past like the blue states have not only not been priorities, but have just been ignored,” said Giovanni Cicione, chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party.

Others say it is Duncan’s ties to the Bush administration that gall them. As an appointee of a politically disastrous president, many see the opportunity to bounce Duncan as a chance to begin anew with the party’s outreach efforts.

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But Duncan has a long tenure on the committee, and that is likely to matter to members regardless of who elevated him to the RNC’s highest rank.

“The fact that Mike Duncan was appointed to the job by President Bush should not disqualify him. The real test should be his performance in office and how they project him to do as chairman,” Nicholson said.