RNC CHAIR PRIEBUS IN THE HOT SEAT

July 10, 2014

The American Spectator Reports:

Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus has been asked to open an investigation into the Mississippi Senate GOP runoff election - by a member of the RNC.

In an interview with The American Spectator, Missouri State Republican Chairman Ed Martin says he believes what happened in Mississippi is symbolic of a "battle for the future of the party." Martin says that RNC colleagues he has spoken to "are looking for Reince Priebus to show leadership" on the issue. "Leadership" defined as opening an investigation into what Martin and others see as race-baiting tactics used to win the primary runoff for six-term GOP establishment Senator Thad Cochran over Tea Party member Chris McDaniel. Martin says what happened in Mississippi is "beyond the pale." One of his RNC colleagues, Dr. Ada Fisher, a physician who serves as the committeewoman for North Carolina - and the granddaughter of a slave - has volunteered to serve on a panel that would investigate the controversy.

At the very center of the controversy is the head of a pro-Cochran group, Mississippi Conservatives. That would be Martin's RNC colleague, the Mississippi Republican National Committeeman Henry Barbour.

The ball is now in the hands of Mr. Priebus. And as Martin told me directly, members of the RNC - the Party of Lincoln, the party that brought freedom to Dr. Ada Fisher's grandfather - are now looking to Reince Priebus for leadership. We'll see.