GOP fires Allison Meyers as strip-club scandal taints party

Allison Meyers, the director of the Young Eagles, a Republican program aimed at wooing donors under 45 years old to the GOP cause, was fired as a result of the strip-club scandal that has embroiled the party this week, according to media reports.

The Republican National Committee reimbursed about $2,000 in expenses rung up by the Young Eagles at a Hollywood nightclub featuring topless dancers and bondage outfits. Ms. Meyers allegedly approved the expense.

Fallout could affect Republican fundraising, particularly among its fiscally and morally conservative small donors. Moreover, the news has increased pressure on party Chairman Michael Steele, who is already already under fire for his management of party spending.

The conservative website “The Daily Caller” first reported that the RNC’s February financial disclosure statement included a $1,946 reimbursement to a California consultant for “meals” at the risqué nightclub. The financial report also disclosed the party had spent $17,514 for private jets, $12,691 on limousines, and $19,016 at the posh W Hotel in Washington.

“It was an inappropriate expenditure and the chairman dealt with it swiftly,” Republican National Committee Communications Director Doug Heye said in an e-mail to the Monitor. Mr. Heye told the Associated Press that the party would be reimbursed by the consultant, Erik Brown.

Alienating small donors

But for some, that news might come too late.

“It stands to reason that many small GOP donors would think twice before sending along another check after hearing about club Voyeur,” says Larry Sabato a political scientist at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. “Many of the party’s base voters are fundamentalist Christians, who are both morally and fiscally conservative. The nightclub expenses manage to offend them doubly.”

For example, Peggy Nance, president of the conservative Christian Women for America, referred to the nightclub reimbursement in a statement Monday saying, “why would a [Republican Party] staffer believe that this is acceptable, and has this kind of thing been approved in the past?”

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