RNC Chair Race Gets Nasty: Shots Taken At Candidate's Education Level, Salary

The race to become the next chair of the Republican party is, as expected, a bit of a political dog-fight, with six candidates vying to differentiate themselves from one another at a time when the party's image is in tatters.

As one anonymous consultant who worked with the RNC phrased it: "Everyone is basically pissed." Another GOP source described it to the Huffington Post as a circular firing squad.

And so, it isn't a shocker that opposition research tarring the different candidates is being peddled around to reporters -- and some of the material crosses the line into personal, petty sniping.

One Republican consultant mailed over an opposition research document on Saul Anuzis -- no author is listed, as is the case with several such anonymous files that are "floating around," the source said. "There are certainly a number of candidates who are benefiting from attacks on Saul," he added. The oppo research starts off, sharply enough, by making light of Anuzis' education.

Highest degree earned: High School Diploma.

From there, it goes after Anuzis' salary as current chair of the Michigan Republican Party, raises questions about secret business partners and ethical conflicts of interests, and generally trashes his leadership as a GOP organizer. It concludes:

Saul Anuzis is a paid political hack whose greed and misconduct lost him his job in government. After fifteen years of trying to make it in business, he came back to what he knew best: politics for pay. His goal was simple: take over the party to enrich himself and his friends. After overseeing tremendous party setbacks and election loses, he leaves his party as a failed chairman. Saul Anuzis now leaves his post after undoing most of the good party building work in the 1980's and early 90's. His true legacy will be a financial one: an exorbitant salary, a huge debt, contracts to his friends and himself (that obligate the party well into the future), and a party in no position to pay for any of it. Isn't this the kind of legacy that Republicans are trying to get away from??

I emailed Anuzis to get his reaction to the file but didn't immediately receive a response. Certainly, this is the most nefarious interpretation of his record, and indicative of the intensity of the race to take over the RNC grows near.

A former union member, Anuzis has called for the GOP to beef up on the technological front, and offers the chance for the party to at least reclaim a symbolic root in the industrial northwest. As Marc Ambinder, who has been following this race closely, noted: "Anuzis has allies and enemies; he doesn't have the best track record in terms of winning races -- though he was the chairman in Michigan, after all -- but gets credit for his enthusiasm, his PR savvy, and his knowledge of how and why the party needs to change technologically."

Full text of the opposition file:

Saul Anuzis: Just the facts

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Education:

Highest degree earned: High School Diploma

Employment:

Fired from Lt. Governor Posthumus' office on orders of Governor Engler for misusing state property and resources specifically long distance calls to other countries billed to the state as part of starting his own personal telecom business.

Current Income:

Michigan Republican Party: $175,000+ a year; ($9,868.28 a month after taxes)

Quick Connect USA: Undisclosed amount from co-ownership and state GOP contracts.

Sterling Group and WWP Strategies: Undisclosed business referral fees from these companies who also have Michigan GOP contracts

Funding RNC Campaign:

Michigan Republican Party
Consultants and others who he has promised GOP contracts and jobs

Service as Michigan Party Chair: 2005-Present

2006- Republicans lose control of Michigan House and seats in Senate.

2008- Nine more House seats lost and lost Republican Chief Justice and majority on the Supreme Court, Two Republican Congressman lost (thank goodness the Senate was not up)

Michigan GOP Debt:

$250,000 (currently borrowing $25,000+ per month simply to cover ongoing expenses)

Analysis:

Saul Anuzis is a paid political hack whose greed and misconduct lost him his job in government. After fifteen years of trying to make it in business, he came back to what he knew best: politics for pay. His goal was simple: take over the party to enrich himself and his friends. After overseeing tremendous party setbacks and election loses, he leaves his party as a failed chairman. Saul Anuzis now leaves his post after undoing most of the good party building work in the 1980's and early 90's. His true legacy will be a financial one: an exorbitant salary, a huge debt, contracts to his friends and himself (that obligate the party well into the future), and a party in no position to pay for any of it. Isn't this the kind of legacy that Republicans are trying to get away from??

Comments

[newmexicogold]

Thank goodness the Repubs haven't figured out the internet yet. Everything they say about each other will be still be posted somewhere long after they are a viable political movement. I love the concept of a circular firing squad. Set those rifles on full auto.

[solarian]

is he a southern republican

[Rog49Thomas]

I didn't bother to read the article.

Am I correct that one candidate is attacking the other for having too much book larnin'?

[adamsmith3]

Of course not, it's for not having ENOUGH of an education (only a high school diploma). A rather elitist attitude.

[Rog49Thomas]

Given that Joe the Almost a Plumber and Now a Fightin' War Correspondent and Sister Sarah are two of the finest minds in the RP, I'd expect the educational requirements to be rather low.

[Ponderus]

I agree about the lack of education being a plus for an RNC chariman. I think there is somebody out there whose worldview is a perfect match with the character of the party: that guy who named his kid "Adolph Hitler".

[littlepuffycloud]

Since the GOP hates educated people, one would think they'd be thrilled to have the leader with only a HS education.

[lotechgma]

Soooo typical! The Repubs still don't know who they are yet, nor even where they are going. The only thing they know is why: they gotta win! But they have forgotten what it is all about... you know country first!!!! but they forgot that country is made up of the people whom they are supposed to be representing. And some species eat their young!

[DoctorWhoDat]

The race for the RNC chair is so degrading, The Special Olympics don't want anything to do with it

[joebiz]

The funny thing is that their Supreme Leader, Bush, has two-degrees from Ivy League schools. Now how has that helped the country?

[Nancy84]

Rush Limbaugh knows everything. Who is he supporting for the job? He probably knows nada about what's going on in his party.

[Nikola Tesla]

Another College dropout.

[AllenD]

"Highest degree earned: High School Diploma"

Sounds to me like he is over qualified.

[loveobamas]

The GOP ain't nothing but animals,But i love to see That The GOP falling apart,It's warms my heart :)

[VirginiaMom]

Anuzis' high school education is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, this fact ought to make Anuzis the front-runner for RNC chair, since the GOP does best among voters with no college education.

[dubster]

I concur just to name a few: Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity don't have college degrees. And Sarah Palin although she does indeed have a college degree it took her 5 -6 different universities to finally settle for a mediocre school in Idaho. And most prominent politicians are usually educated at some Ivy or prestigious university with law degrees or other advanced degrees from other top tier, elite universities.

[ShinjiIkari]

There are two kinds of GOP nasty: one kind when they diss Democrats (swift-boating Kerry) and another when they diss each other (McCain in South Carolina primary in 2000). There's some variety between the two flavors, but they have one thing in common: lies. It's safe to assume that any Republican who slimes anyone else is doing so on the basis of false or falsified information and innuendos. So the simplest thing to do is simply to assume that any word out of a Republican's mouth, on any subject, is a lie. Saves time and energy, and we can focus on what matters to America.

[BeasleysMom]

The level of immaturity in the gop is amazing. You are always going to have a few fo ols in any organization, but the gops seem to be trying to set a new record.

They can't seem to run in any election with civility and good sense. Are any of them saying anything about what they would bring to the party, what constructive, new ideas they might have? Does not appear so. Just like in the recent election. Attack, attack, attack. What a bunch of go of ba//s. It reminds me of when my sons were young children.

[redsongia]

Meanwhile, all the older accomplished GOPers like Hagel are stepping down.

Are the hysterical, mudslinging Palinistas really going to inherit this party?

[skippypicasso]

I "get" to listen to Saul every week on the Michael Patrick Shiels show, and I can tell you that the oppo research is more descriptive than hit job. Even with Shiels tossing softball after softball, Anuzis displays the intellect of a waterbug. But he is dogged in his defense of whatever the Republicans stand for nowadays.