Politics

Citing own experience, Steele won’t judge Wasserman Schultz’s chairmanship yet

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — How effective has Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz been as chairwoman of the Democratic Party? You’ll have to wait until she is no longer chairwoman before you’ll get an opinion on the subject out of former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

While politicos are likely debating that question inside the hallways at the Democratic National Convention, Steele said in an interview Thursday with The Daily Caller that he’s made it his policy not to publicly assess the effectiveness of those currently in the position until they’re no longer leading the national party.

“I’ve made it a practice not to comment on my successor or the chairman of the other party while they’re doing they’re job,” Steele told TheDC in the hallway at the Time Warner Cable Arena, “because I lived through the commenting.”

“My predecessors commenting on my chairmanship made it much more difficult to do the job and so I’ll reserve that until the appropriate time,” Steele said.

Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011. He lost a bid for a second term after many in the Republican establishment questioned the effectiveness of the organization under his leadership.

As for Wasserman Shultz, a recent book on President Obama by writer Glenn Thrush cites sources saying White House officials have had doubts about her leadership of the committee.

Thrush wrote that Obama officials reduced her television appearances because she ranked last in a commissioned focus group study on the effectiveness of Obama surrogates. The White House and the DNC have disputed that account.


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