24 Feb 2020 4:30 pm
Republican National Committee Obscured How Much It Pays Its Chief of Staff
Amid the record-breaking flows of cash, the RNC is giving lucrative consulting work to a select group of political operatives with Trump campaign ties.
Richard Walters began his career at the lowest rungs of the Republican National Committee when he was 23.
Now, at 30, he’s the RNC chief of staff, earning far more than any other official there, including his boss, the chairwoman, and the top officials at the Democratic National Committee.
The rich compensation might have raised eyebrows — but for the fact that the RNC obscured it.
Last year, Walters earned a salary of $207,558, but the party paid him an additional $135,000 through a shell company he established in December 2018 called Red Wave Strategies.
Federal Election Commission reports described the RNC’s payments to Red Wave as “political strategy services,” as if the money had flowed to an independent contractor and not Walters himself.
Red Wave does not have other employees and has no clients other than the RNC.
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are raising unprecedented sums of cash for the 2020 election.
The party brought in more than $241 million alone in 2019, far exceeding the $107 million the RNC raised in 2003, the last time there was a Republican president seeking reelection, and eclipsing the $92 million raised last year by the Democratic National Committee.
The RNC spent record-breaking sums, too: In 2019, the party doled out $192 million.
Amid the flows of cash, a select group of political operatives has leveraged Trump campaign ties for lucrative consulting work.
In October, The Washington Post highlighted the political consulting prowess of Katie Walsh, for whom Walters once worked at the RNC, and her husband, Mike Shields.
Both Walsh and Shields previously served as RNC chiefs of staff.
Three businesses controlled by Walsh and Shields have been paid more than $12 million from the RNC, multiple Republican groups and political committees since 2017, according to the Post’s analysis of campaign filings and other records.
Michael Steele, a former RNC chairman, said Walters’ payment structure “just smells” and was in keeping with a culture of “sweetheart deals” among party insiders that he described as corrosive.
https://www.propublica.org/article/repu ... ssion=true
Amid the record-breaking flows of cash, the RNC is giving lucrative consulting work to a select group of political operatives with Trump campaign ties.
Richard Walters began his career at the lowest rungs of the Republican National Committee when he was 23.
Now, at 30, he’s the RNC chief of staff, earning far more than any other official there, including his boss, the chairwoman, and the top officials at the Democratic National Committee.
The rich compensation might have raised eyebrows — but for the fact that the RNC obscured it.
Last year, Walters earned a salary of $207,558, but the party paid him an additional $135,000 through a shell company he established in December 2018 called Red Wave Strategies.
Federal Election Commission reports described the RNC’s payments to Red Wave as “political strategy services,” as if the money had flowed to an independent contractor and not Walters himself.
Red Wave does not have other employees and has no clients other than the RNC.
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are raising unprecedented sums of cash for the 2020 election.
The party brought in more than $241 million alone in 2019, far exceeding the $107 million the RNC raised in 2003, the last time there was a Republican president seeking reelection, and eclipsing the $92 million raised last year by the Democratic National Committee.
The RNC spent record-breaking sums, too: In 2019, the party doled out $192 million.
Amid the flows of cash, a select group of political operatives has leveraged Trump campaign ties for lucrative consulting work.
In October, The Washington Post highlighted the political consulting prowess of Katie Walsh, for whom Walters once worked at the RNC, and her husband, Mike Shields.
Both Walsh and Shields previously served as RNC chiefs of staff.
Three businesses controlled by Walsh and Shields have been paid more than $12 million from the RNC, multiple Republican groups and political committees since 2017, according to the Post’s analysis of campaign filings and other records.
Michael Steele, a former RNC chairman, said Walters’ payment structure “just smells” and was in keeping with a culture of “sweetheart deals” among party insiders that he described as corrosive.
https://www.propublica.org/article/repu ... ssion=true