RNC Chair Calls on Controversial Party Official to Quit

Reince Priebus, the chair of the Republican National Committee, as well as Michigan Republican Party chair Bobby Schostak, called on controversial national committeeman Dave Agema to step down on Friday. Agema has come under fire for repeatedly making anti-gay and anti-Muslim remarks. In a one-sentence statement to the Detroit Free Press, the two said "For the good of the party, we believe Dave Agema should resign."

Agema, a longtime Republican activist, was elected to be one of the Wolverine State's two representatives to the RNC in 2012. Since taking office, he repeatedly received national attention for comments suggesting gays want free health care because they die between the ages of 30-44 and that Muslims don't contribute anything to the United States as well as for posting an article on his personal Facebook account that said gays were "filthy," prone to pedophilia, responsible for spreading AIDS and infected with the STDs.

The call for Agema's resignation came at the end of the RNC's three-day winter meeting in Washington, D.C., which the Michigan national committeeman did not attend to avoid giving "liberal critics" an excuse to amplify the controversy around him. In his Friday statement, Priebus and Schostak join three Republican congressmen from Michigan as well as a number of other prominent party activists in calling for Agema to step down.