DON’T SPEND CARELESSLY … WHILE I SPEND CARELESSLY

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I am not a fan of Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Personally, I’m sure he’s the bees knees – beer worthy, shooting hoops, sharing onion rings, whatever.

But in a political light, don’t expect to see a framed photograph of him on anyone’s “Republican Wall of Honor” any time soon; don’t expect his likeness to be done up in a t-shirt or knapsack; and don’t expect to see him win any “Leadership” medals.

So there.

In his vivaciously lackluster performance as RNC Chief, he would have to dazzle me until I was rendered unconscious and drooling like Chris Dodd at a TGI Fridays in order to work his way up to “less-than-mediocre” on my score card. And, as difficult as this will be for some to believe, and as much as I hate to disappoint my regular audience of assorted leftists, it has nothing to do with his skin color.

He’s been a failure … and frankly, somewhat of an embarrassment.

For instance, I didn’t particularly take too well to the suggestion that some of us white Republicans are afraid of him because he’s black. I assure you, there are plenty of other reasons to be “afraid” of him as head of the RNC. The word “incompetence” comes to mind.

It gave me no warm and fuzzy feeling deep inside when Mr. Steele, Chairman of the bloody RNC, said he didn’t think Republicans could win this November.

That’s some kind of leader, isn’t it?

Stand back. Watch him work.

How about a little positive thinking, Mike? How about a touch of confidence? How about a little smack talk? Dems are reeling right now. Now’s not the time to put on your namby-pamby act.

I felt like throwing one of my penguin-head, fake-marble bookends through the television when he refused to take on talk show host D. L. Hughley for comparing the Republican Convention to Nazi Germany. That should have, at the very least, had Steele asking Hughley an equally ludicrous question about the Democrat convention looking like an inner-city welfare office.

The latest notch on his elephant pole of accomplishments involves how he is spending donor contributions to the Republican Party.

Jeane Cummings of Politico writes:

Republican National Chairman Michael Steele is spending twice as much as his recent predecessors on private planes and paying more for limousines, catering and flowers – expenses that are infuriating the party’s major donors who say Republicans need every penny they can get for the fight to win back Congress.

Most recently, donors grumbled when Steele hired renowned chef Wolfgang Puck’s local crew to cater the RNC’s Christmas party inside the trendy Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, and then moved its annual winter meeting from Washington to Hawaii.

For some major GOP donors, both decisions were symbolic of the kind of wasteful spending habits they claim has become endemic to his tenure at the RNC. When Ken Mehlman served as the committee chairman during the critical 2006 midterm elections, the holiday party was held in a headquarters conference room and Chic-fil-A was the caterer.

I like Chic-fil-A, incidentally.

To be fair, according to Louis M. Pope, Chairman of the RNC’s Budget Committee, the upscale events that have some GOP doners angry are all profitable.

Still, the elephants are losing big money donors.

Disclosure reports document the exodus of prominent donors who have decided to shift their giving to other party committees. In 2005, the RNC raised $46 million from donors who gave more than $250 and $55 million from small donors. In 2009, Steele’s RNC brought in just $24 million — nearly half as much — from big donors and $58 million from small donors.

When Steele took over the chairmanship last winter, he inherited a $23 million surplus. Since then, the former Maryland lieutenant governor has raised $10 million less than the party collected in 2005 and has spent $10 million more. By the end of 2009, the committee’s surplus had shrunk to $8.4 million, according to campaign finance reports.

So, in one year, the GOP surplus has withered by almost $15 million.

Okay.

I’m not a fool.

I understand when you are behind and outnumbered and in the minority, it obviously becomes necessary to spend cash to “get the word out.” Effective fundraising does cost money.

However, it becomes more difficult to place your faith in a leader who criticizes his opponents for careless spending when he uses party donations on high-end chefs, private jets and private consultants.

Just sayin’.

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