Maria Cino vies to be chair of RNC

By high school, she was still very into it, and there she met Bill Paxon, who went on to serve as congressman for the state of New York. “He went to an all boys catholic school, I went to an all girls catholic school, and we teamed up and ran a lot of races together, which was a lot of fun,” Cino said. “But we lost most of them.”

At age 17, she interned at the NRCC, and when she graduated college, she was offered an entry-level position at the NRC.

Cino registered as a Republican, and her parents quickly followed suit.

“They realized that they too, not only were Republicans, but were pretty conservative,” she said, laughing.

Cino’s Buffalo upbringing is still a large part of her. “She has stayed in touch with and maintains the values of everybody from the nuns to her grade school friends,” Matalin says, and Cino’s favorite ice cream remains a “blackberry custard” that “they only make…on certain days of the week” at “this wonderful place in Buffalo, New York,” she reminisces, laughing. “And usually it’s hard ice cream, but they make a custard, which is to die for.”

Cino has been criticized for backing out of a candidate debate hosted by FreedomWorks, Dick Armey’s pro-Tea Party organization, in order to attend a fundraiser for her hosted by Matalin. But Cino says she thinks the Tea Party is a very good thing for the GOP.

“It’s a positive,” she stated emphatically. “I believe the chairman of the Republican National Committee’s job is to grow the party. And I think that the Tea Party is an excellent example: their principles are our principles, and if you look at our platform — which I wholeheartedly support — they’re basically reiterating the platform. I believe that they were an asset this year, and should get full credit for the 63 seat pick up in the House, and obviously the seven seats in the Senate, and all the state and local.”

Steele has been accused of trying to use the chairmanship to further his own career, something Cino says is absolutely not on her agenda.

“I have no ambition to run for higher office,” Cino says. “I’m not using this as a stepping stone to run for higher office, and I think I’ve been very public about — I’m not writing a book, or looking for a talk show contract.”

Her only goal, she says, is to retool the RNC so that it can fulfill its potential, a sentiment Matalin echoes.

“When we came to the committee,” says Matalin, “it was the premiere, top of the line place to work in Republican politics. And she’ll make everybody proud of it again.”

Cino will participate in the RNC Chairman’s debate co-hosted by TheDC. The debate will be held on January 3 at the National Press Club.

This article is part of The Daily Caller’s weeklong series profiling the candidates vying to be the next chairman of the Republican National Committee. Those interested in participating in the chairman’s debate hosted by The Daily Caller and Americans for Tax Reform by proposing or voting on questions to be asked of the candidates at the Jan. 3 debate can go to www.rncdebate.org.