Politics

Steele ally quits top lawyer job at RNC

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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An ally of Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has resigned as the committee’s top lawyer, likely to prepare to run for chairman himself.

In an e-mail obtained by The Daily Caller, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, told members of the RNC’s budget and executive committees Sunday morning that he resigned “in a private letter to Chairman Steele.”

Asked to comment on whether this signals a plan to run for RNC chairman, Priebus said in an e-mail that, “I’ll be making an announcement very soon.”

Steele has not publicly said whether he’ll run for re-election when the RNC holds leadership elections in January.

Others who have announced their candidacies or have been mentioned as possible candidates include: former Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis; former RNC political director Gentry Collins; former RNC co-chairman Ann Wagner; former Bush administration official Maria Cino; former RNC chairman Mike Duncan; former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman and Connecticut GOP chairman Chris Healy.