The former director of the Republican National Committee's infamous Young Eagles program, Allison Meyers, has joined the campaign of West Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bill Maloney (R). According to disclosure forms Maloney released in late August, Meyers has been on the campaign's payroll as a fundraising consultant since May, earning $5,000 per month in June and July, and slightly less in May.
Meyers' new role comes a little more than a year after she made national headlines for spending nearly $2,000 at a lesbian bondage-themed club in Los Angeles. The evening was part of the RNC's Young Eagles initiative, designed to cultivate younger GOP donors, but the visit to the club was an impromptu afterparty with a number of the contributors. Meyers submitted a reimbursement form to the RNC for the tab, which was then disclosed in FEC filings.
The media quickly seized on the story, and the fallout for the RNC could have hardly come at a worse time: Then-chairman Michael Steele was already in hot water with party poobahs for spending too much money, and a general perception that the RNC wasn't working hard enough to win the 2010 midterm elections. Spending $2,000 at a club where topless women dance in cages only served to exacerbate all the criticism.
According to an internal memo, Meyers was fired for submitting a reimbursement form for "an activity that was not eligible for reimbursement." But insiders said there was more to it than that. Her dismissal -- and the subsequent dismantling of the Young Eagles program -- helped to quell some of Steele's most vocal critics at the time, and there were plenty of them, including Sarah Palin and Karl Rove.
The same month she left the RNC, Meyers founded Altered States, LLC, according to a LinkedIn profile that also lists her previous job as director of the Young Eagles. The Maloney campaign listed Altered States, LLC, as the recipient of seven payments.
Asked whether her past affiliation had been of concern to the campaign, Maloney spokeswoman Michelle Yi told The Huffington Post, "Allison is a valued and respected staffer who has been critical to assisting our effort to move West Virginia forward from the failed leadership of a 36-year career politician," referencing Maloney's opponent, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D).
Maloney is currently trailing his opponent by about 8 points.
Click through the slideshow for more attacks levied at the RNC in the wake of the scandal.
