Steele's accountability moment

Except that it's not his.

The finance chief of the Republican National Committee, Rob Bickhart, and his deputy were fired Friday by Michael Steele, the party chairman, after months of sluggish fund-raising punctuated by unwelcome publicity over some of the committee’s spending. “While we appreciate their service to the R.N.C. and wish them well in future endeavors, the chairman felt it was important to restructure the department in order to continue to improve on our strong fund-raising numbers,” Mr. Steele said in an e-mail message forwarded to the committee staff by his chief of staff. Mary Heitman, a former finance director for the Republican Governors Association, will replace Mr. Bickhart.