RNC scraps Young Eagles program

Gautham Nagesh Contributor
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Ben Smith at Politico reports the RNC is canceling all Young Eagles events pending a review of the program:

The RNC finance staff is going to review the Young Eagles club throughout the week of April 5. In this review, we will ascertain the YEs current financial status (costs to revenues) and membership breakdown (fully paids, partially paids and event fee participants). We will also be looking at staff structure and measures for checks and balances. We will devise a plan for moving FORWARD with the club.

In the meantime, please note the following interim directives:

We are canceling all Young Eagles events until the club review is completed.

This includes: Opening Day with the Phillies, U.S. Training Center, YE’s Leadership Summit and Gold Cup. If there are others in the pipeline, they are also on hold until further notice.

via RNC cancels Young Eagles events – Ben Smith – POLITICO.com.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Young Eagles is the group created by the RNC to woo the next generation of big conservative donors. Group members also took part in the now-infamous trip to the bondage-themed West Hollywood nightclub Voyeur, which led to program director Allison Meyers’ firing from the RNC yesterday.

While the RNC’s official description of the program makes it seem pretty tame, this December post from Glittarazzi paints a very different picture:

This past month the Young Eagles have:

  • cocktailed at the swanky W Hotel bar with House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner;
  • enjoyed dinner at Ambassador to Luxembourg Peter Terpeluk’s estate in Chevy Chase, followed by cocktails at J. Roby Penn IV’s Watergate bachelor pad (Mr. Penn, 29, has been appointed the Mid-Atlantic regional director for the Young Eagles.);
  • experienced some Monday night football in Redskins owner Dan Snyder’s box, where they rubbed elbows with RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Rep. Castle (R-Del.), and Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams; and
  • dined at Spago in LA with Newt Gingrich.

Somewhere out there is a Main Line yuppie really pissed about having to buy his own ticket to Opening Day. On the plus side, I hear the Nationals still have plenty of seats available.