Despite allegations against CPAC chair Schlapp, Pompeo and Schmitt take prime speaking slots

The Conservative Political Action Conference has long offered ambitious Republican politicians a coveted platform to make a mark among the party’s hardcore activist base. This year is no exception, even as its leader faces an allegation of sexual battery.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a potential presidential candidate, and Sen. Eric Schmitt, a freshman Missouri Republican, both have accepted prime speaking slots Thursday evening at the gathering in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.

Their appearances follow a lawsuit filed in January against CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp, 55, by a former staff member on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign in Georgia. An attorney for Schlapp has denied the allegation.

Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, and Schlapp both launched their political careers in Wichita, with Schlapp working for Pompeo’s predecessor in Congress and as a lobbyist for Koch Industries. Pompeo didn’t respond to a request for comment through his political operation, CAVPAC.

Schmitt, who was elected to the Senate in November, avoided answering questions at the Capitol on Wednesday about whether he had considered the allegation against Schlapp before agreeing to speak at the conference.

“I look forward to speaking with conservative activists across the country,” Schmitt told The Star. “I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again.”

Schmitt spoke to the conference last year, while he was in a competitive race for the Republican Senate nomination.

CPAC is a longstanding conservative conference — one of the annual stops on the political speaking circuit important for future presidential hopefuls going back to Ronald Reagan in the 1970s. Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican whose past speeches have been fodder for talk of his presidential aspirations, is skipping this year’s event.

“I don’t go every year, I don’t think,” Hawley said. “So I’m just not going to go this year.”

Hawley has appeared at CPAC every year since being sworn into the Senate in 2019, both for interviews and speeches. During his 2021 speech, he received a standing ovation for saying he objected to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, just weeks after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Asked if his decision not to attend had anything to do with the allegations against Schlapp, Hawley repeated himself.

“Let’s just say that I’m not planning on going this year, but I look forward to it in the future,” Hawley said. “Hopefully, they’ll have me back.”

Republican presidential hopefuls are also split on attending CPAC. In addition to Pompeo, former President Donald Trump is also speaking and has top billing. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as Trump’s biggest potential rival, is skipping it after major appearances at the conference in 2021 and 2022 when it was hosted in Florida partly due to the state’s lax COVID-19 rules.

Trump has close ties with the Schlapps, who helped build his base in the Republican Party. Mercedes Schlapp, Matt Schlapp’s wife, worked for the Trump campaign and was his White House director of strategic information.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamay, who have both already announced their candidacies, are also speaking. Other names who have been mentioned, like Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, and Gov. Glen Youngkin, aren’t speaking.

Schlapp has his political roots in Kansas. Raised in Wichita, Schlapp in 1994 began working for Todd Tiahrt, a Republican who defeated an 18-year Democratic incumbent in the fight to represent south central Kansas in Congress. Over the next five years, he held various positions in Tiahrt’s office and campaign operation.

Pompeo succeeded Tiahrt in representing the district in Congress in 2010. Tiahrt declined to speak with The Star about Pompeo or Schlapp.

Schlapp pursued a career in national politics, participating in the “Brooks Brothers riot” in the disputed 2000 presidential election and then working as political director for former President George W. Bush’s administration. The American Conservative Union elected him its chairman in 2014, a position he has held since.

Schlapp has maintained ties to Wichita and his family remains politically influential in Kansas Republican politics. His mother, former Wichita City Council member Sue Schlapp, was recently vice chair of the Kansas Republican Party.

Republican and voter attitudes over what conduct is tolerable in political figures have shifted significantly in recent years, spurred in large part by Trump. Just weeks before the 2016 election, audio was released of Trump bragging about groping women. The writer E. Jean Carroll in a New York lawsuit has also accused Trump of raping her in the 1990s, though he continues to lead polls of Republican primary voters.

Members of CPAC’s board have publicly supported Schlapp in the wake of the allegations that he groped a male political operative, which were first reported by The Daily Beast in January and confirmed by other outlets.

“We know Matt Schlapp’s heart and his character. And we believe this latest attempt at character assassination is false,” board members Charlie Gerow and Carolyn Meadows said in a statement.

After the Washington Post reported that there have been complaints about toxic workplace culture of CPAC under Schlapp’s leadership, Carolyn Meadows, the 2nd vice chairman of CPAC denounced their reporting and said the group stood by Schlapp’s leadership.

“Our grassroots activists are fed up with the radical left’s tactics of intimidation and harassment with the singular purpose of destroying conservatives,” Meadows wrote. “This week, we will be with thousands of real Americans who care about the future of our country, people who are too busy with their real lives to care about hit pieces.”

Schlapp has previously tweeted a statement by attorney Charlie Spies denying the allegations.

“This complaint is false, and the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual,” the statement says in part.