The RNC’s proposed budget for 2011 was opposed by Steve Munisteri, chair of the Texas GOP, and Tom Fetzer, chair of the North Carolina GOP. Munisteri called the reduction in staff — from around 170 people to 107 — insufficient, and predicted that the RNC would be $12 million in debt by the end of the year — $2 million more than the budget committee projected — because the RNC would fall behind in vendor payments. Fetzer later rose to second Munisteri’s suspicions.
Priscilla Rakestraw, committeewoman from Delaware, spoke in support of the budget. “This is a floor budget,” she argued. “This is not a ceiling budget.”
Morton Blackwell, committeeman from Virginia, agreed with Rakestraw. “Not paying off all we have borrowed in the next year is not something we should fall on our swords for,” he said.
The RNC ultimately voted to approve the budget.