Rep. Kevin McCarthy, 43, a prolife freshman Republican from California, will chair the platform committee for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., The Washington Times has learned today. Steven J. Duffield, former aide to conservative Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, will be the committee’s executive director. The Republican National Chairman informed the 168-member Republican National Committee of the appointments in a conference call today. In his first year in Congress, Mr. McCarthy had a 100 percent prolife voting record, according to the National Right to Life committee. Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has let it been known through associates that he will not work to “soften” — even behind the scenes — the party’s platform, which supports a constitutional ban on abortion. Mr. McCarthy, who also favors free trade and second-amendment rights, was named to the platform committee chairmanship by House Republican Leader John Boehner, with the concurrence of Mr. McCain’s presidential campaign. Mr. Duffield, who helped pushed through the Senate confirmation of conservative Supreme Court appointments Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, opposes civil unions and same-sex marriage. Mr. McCain associates told The Washington Times earlier this year that his operatives are not going to work behind the scenes to eliminate the party’s calls for constitutional bans on abortion and homosexual marriage when the platform committee meets during the week before the Sept. 1-4 GOP convention. Previous GOP standard bearers such as former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole have sought to alter the platform’s planks, which are honed and released in the platform immediately before the nominating convention. Mr. Duffield, 37, was the Senate Republican Conference’s policy director and chief counsel. Before that, Mr. Duffield was the deputy policy director and chief counsel for the Senate Republican Policy Committee and a judiciary policy analyst and counsel for the committee. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Duffield, a Vista, Calif., native, practiced constitutional law for Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. Mr. McCarthy, a Bakersfield, Calif., native, served two terms in the California state Assembly, including three years as Republican Assembly leader. Beginning in the 1990s, Mr. McCarthy was district director for Rep. Bill Thomas, who was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House. Mr. McCarthy was first elected to the U.S. House in 2006 when he defeated Democrat Shannon Beery to replace Mr. Thomas, who had retired from Congress. He is believed to be the youngest person to chair the national Republican party’s platform committee. “This appointment is a positive development for retaining a conservative Republican platform,” said James Bopp Jr., a Republican National Committee member from Indiana and twice a member of the platform committee.
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