The controversy over Republican National Committee (RNC) spending has led to the resignation of its chief of staff, but party chairman Michael Steele remains insistent that he isn’t going anywhere.
The resignation of RNC chief of staff Ken McKay on Monday made him the highest-profile official to depart the central committee after the revelation that the committee had picked up a nearly US$2,000 tab at a sex-themed California night club. The incident proved embarrassing and a mid-level staffer was dismissed, a move that was not enough to assuage social conservatives urging a fund-raising boycott.
In an internal memo on Monday, Steele said he and his staff had “the responsibility to assure our donors, volunteers and voters that it’s nothing but our core mission which drives every dollar we spend, every phone call we make, every e-mail we send and every event we organize. Recent events have called that into question. The buck stops with me. That is why I have made this change in management.”
“The goal driving this decision has been your ability to do what you do best — going on offense with message, raising money, building relationships with key coalitions, getting out the vote, grooming new donors, and crushing Democrats in November,” Steele said. “Every minute spent on distractions is an unacceptable missed opportunity to do what you do best — taking back our country for the American people.”
Steele had insisted earlier on Monday that he would not resign and defended his stewardship of party affairs. He dismissed criticism — some of it has centered on spending on flights, limousines and expensive hotels — as the talk of Republican figures uncomfortable with his “streetwise” managerial style.
Asked in a nationally broadcast interview if he would step down in the face of criticism of the party’s financial management, Steele replied, “No.” He said some people had been second-guessing him “since the day that I got the job.” That confidence was not extended to McKay. As the chief of staff, he ran day-to-day operations at RNC headquarters and was the top aide to a chairman who found few defenders.
McKay’s resignation also prompted one of Steele’s top advisers, Curt Anderson, to leave the committee’s circle of consultants.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese