WASHINGTON — Cubs board member and Republican mega donor Todd Ricketts will become the new Republican National Committee finance chair, a source close to the RNC told the Chicago Sun-Times. Ricketts will replace the disgraced Steve Wynn, the casino mogul forced to step down in the wake of sexual harassment allegations.
The RNC will hold its Winter Meeting Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 in Washington, the first big GOP gathering since Wynn was hit with the sexual misconduct accusations.
Another GOP source told the Sun-Times, the RNC “will vote to confirm him during this week’s Winter Meeting.”
The Ricketts appointment came together quickly after Wynn resigned on Saturday, a source said.
Ricketts was tapped by President Donald Trump for the No. 2 Commerce Department post but withdrew his name last year because of the difficulty of untangling his finances.
After the Commerce spot did not work out, Ricketts was looking for another opportunity to serve, and the RNC slot is seen as a perfect fit. Ricketts is close to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the warm relationship is expected to be helpful with top GOP donors.
Ricketts, a Wilmette resident, is a member of the GOP wing of the billionaire Ricketts clan.
Ricketts and his three siblings are all on the Cubs board, legally known as Chicago Baseball Holdings LLC. Brother Pete is the GOP governor of Nebraska. Sister Laura is a prominent activist Democrat. Brother Tom is the Cubs chairman.
Trump gave a hat-tip to the Cubs 2016 World Series win when he said in a Nov. 30 statement that Ricketts “is an immensely successful businessman with unparalleled knowledge of the finance industry.”
Until he was nominated for the Commerce spot, Ricketts presided over the political operations of the GOP wing of the Ricketts family, becoming increasingly more active and public in the political arena in the past few years.
In 2013, Ricketts took the baton from his father and became CEO of organizations the senior Ricketts founded to advocate for conservative fiscal policies and reducing the size of government: Ending Spending’s SuperPAC and its nonprofit advocacy arm.