GOP Lawyer: Republicans Must End Cronyism of 'Little White Boy Consultants'

A top GOP legal adviser to several House and Senate Republicans says the Republican National Committee’s newly formed panel to study the GOP’s failed 2012 election strategy must focus on rooting out cronyism among the party’s consultant class.

“Until Chairman Priebus and other GOP leaders focus on rooting out the greed, cronyism, and corruption of the ‘little white boy’ consultants who make millions of dollars, year in and year out, and yet lose elections–and until there is real accountability and transparency to donors to ensure that integrity is restored to GOP circles–none of these initiatives will matter,” said Cleta Mitchell.

The assembling of the Republican panel comes on the heels of an investigation by Breitbart News contributor Patrick Michael Leahy that showed that the Romney campaign paid over $150 million to two consulting firms with ties to top RNC and Romney campaign staffers.

“No such study or comprehensive reform program will be credible unless serious steps are proposed to identify and crush consultants responsible for warping campaign spending toward commissionable expenses and allowing the [political] left a huge advantage in effective ground-game activities,” Virginia RNC member Morton Blackwell told the Washington Times.

In the wake of the 2012 elections, numerous conservatives and Republicans have criticized the GOP’s consultant class for having engaged in the kind of cronyism that landed advisers big pay days and the GOP big losses.

The RNC’s five-member election post-mortem panel–officially named the Growth and Opportunity Project–is comprised of Mississippi RNC member Henry Barbour, Puerto Rico RNC member Zori Fonalledas, South Carolina RNC member Glenn McCall, Gov. Jeb Bush’s former chief of staff Sally Bradshaw, and former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer.