GOP Committee Lays Off 40, Blames Lack of Funds

Faced with a shortfall in contributions, the Republican National Committee laid off 40 staffers today, about 15% of its work force.

Terry Wade, RNC director of communications, said the cutbacks followed the committee’s decision at its New Orleans meeting last month to scale the 1987 budget back from about $38 million to $35 million.

“This is not unusual in politics,” Wade said. “That doesn’t make it any less painful or unpleasant.”

He said the cutbacks were “pretty broad,” stretching across the various divisions of the RNC. But he would not characterize the positions reduced or give further details on those laid off from the staff that had 275 people.

At the New Orleans meeting, the committee learned that contributions had dropped off in the first five months of the year from expected levels. RNC Chairman Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. mentioned the Iran- contra scandal, competition from the party’s big field of presidential candidates and the furor over fund-raising by television evangelists as reasons for the drop.

Wade said today that contributions have fallen even slightly below the levels projected in New Orleans. He said documents to be filed with the Federal Election Commission later today will show the RNC with about $17 million in receipts in the first half of the year, below the $17.4 million expected.

But Wade said the RNC is still confident of reaching its $35-million budget for the year, since the second half is traditionally better for fund-raising.

“It will be fall before we know how it is going,” Wade said. “Summer is never a good time to judge fund-raising.”