The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 3)

br> As the White House and Republican National Committee officials begin to transition their political resources to help Sen. John McCain 's run for the presidency, both are looking at how best to support McCain's campaign. As we reported last week, one focus is rebuilding Catholic outreach. According to RNC insiders, that has put the focus on current RNC outreach co-director John A. Kelly (he was appointed to the post, along with Leonard Leo , of the Federalist Society, by then-RNC director Ken Mehlman ). /p>

Since Kelly took over the job, however, the Republican Party has seen its support among Catholics nosedive, and Kelly's own checkered past is raising questions about the RNC's seriousness of rebuilding Catholic outreach.

Before becoming head of Catholic outreach, Kelly was better known as the John A. Kelly who back in the early 1980s had served as a low-level RNC aide who was removed from that job, according to the New York Times, for passing himself off as a White House employee of the then newly installed Reagan Administration.

Kelly was moved over to another job at the RNC, working on a ballot security task force for the 1981 New Jersey governor's race that saw Tom Kean defeat James Florio. That outcome was tainted by Democrat charges that the RNC-backed task force intimidated voters in inner-city areas; a lawsuit was filed against the RNC, and the national party later signed a pledge in federal court promising not to allow such intimidation of Democrat voters again.

topics:
John McCain, Law, Iraq