GOP consultant Stone wants Steele to resign

Roger Stone, an infamous Republican operative, says RNC Chair Michael Steele should step down over the results of Tuesday's special election in New York.

Published April 1, 2009 3:40PM (EDT)

Last month, there were a fair amount of people saying that if Republican Jim Tedisco lost a special election to fill an open House seat in New York, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's job would be in jeopardy. Well, Tedisco hasn't officially lost, but with the absentee ballots still waiting to be tallied, he is trailing 65 votes behind Democrat Scott Murphy. So one well-known GOP operative with New York ties, Roger Stone, is calling for Steele to step down.

Stone made his case on a local radio show Wednesday morning. "While saying the race was a priority, Mr. Steele provided neither the financial support nor campaign co-ordination needed for victory," he said. "A week ago Tedisco would have lost by a larger margin -- he actually bounced back in the race after he began ignoring advice from the National Republican committees and running his own campaign."

Now, Stone may be a famous -- or infamous, really -- figure in politics, but he's not known for really having a ton of power within the GOP. He's more of a dirty tricks guy. And his politics are a little too moderate for today's Republican Party. So it's hard to believe his statement will really hurt Steele. Still, it's not a good sign for Steele's stature in the party that Stone felt he could come out so openly against the RNC chair.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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