Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is being criticized again after the committee bankrolled a Republican donor's tab at a risque Hollywood nightclub with other party members.
The news comes as Republicans seek donations for an expected brutal and expensive battle to win back the House and the Senate during the midterm elections in November.
"For those donors who truly believe in conservative values, this latest news about Steele has to be very disturbing," Douglas MacKinnon, a former press secretary to then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, told the Huffington Post.com's Sam Stein. "Michael Steele needs to resign and let the RNC vote in a man or woman who understands that his or her needs do not come before the needs of the nation or the party."
Federal Election Commission records show Eric Brown, a Republican donor, was reimbursed almost $2,000 by the RNC for a night that included a visit to Voyeur, a Los Angeles club where topless dancers can be seen mimicking sex and bondage acts. The RNC said Brown will give back the money for that night at the nightclub.
Read more on the nightclub expense controversy
None of it bodes well for Steele, who's been under fire from a wide range of Republicans since taking the topaion power leveling party post.Conservatives have criticized the former lieutenant governor of Maryland after he blasted radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and later apologized. Some of the party faithful are also critical for his spending. And some fear he's not positioning the GOP well enough to hammer vulnerable Democrats in upcoming elections.
"RNC Chairman Michael Steele has become a recurring nightmare for his party," said Taylor West, a Democratic communications consultant for New Partners Inc. "As the unforced errors, prima donna moments and wildstar trek online credits message detours have mounted, Steele has been at best a distraction and at worst a true detriment to the committee's most important roles: driving a consistent Republican narrative and raising money to support the party's 2010 candidates."