On the left: Donald Trump’s greenroom; on the right: Rand Paul’s. | Chris LaCivita via @LaCivitaC Campaigns erupt over greenrooms at third GOP debate Aides to Chris Christie and Rand Paul complain their work spaces look like bathrooms.

BOULDER, Colo. — Just hours before GOP candidates take the stage here Wednesday night, tensions over the Republican National Committee’s handling of the debates are flaring anew.

At issue this time: greenrooms.


During a tense 30-minute meeting at the Coors Event Center, which was described by three sources present, several lower-polling campaigns lashed out at the RNC. They accused the committee of allotting them less-than-hospitable greenroom spaces while unfairly giving lavish ones to higher-polling candidates, such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

The drama began Tuesday afternoon as RNC officials led campaigns on a walk-through of the debate site. After touring the stage, candidates got a peek at what their greenrooms looked like.

Trump was granted a spacious room, complete with plush chairs and a flat-screen TV. Marco Rubio got a theater-type room, packed with leather seats for him and his team of aides. Carly Fiorina’s room had a Jacuzzi.

Check out Marcos theater !!!! pic.twitter.com/l2jMfnlwgh — Chris LaCivita (@LaCivitaC) October 27, 2015

Then there was Chris Christie, whose small space was dominated by a toilet. So was Rand Paul’s.

After the walk-through ended, RNC officials, led by chief strategist Sean Spicer and director of finance events Anne Marie Hoffman, guided the 35 or so advisers upstairs for a meeting. There, Spicer complained about a series of recent press leaks on RNC-led conference calls with campaigns. He also outlined the planned format for the fourth Republican debate, to be held in Milwaukee and broadcast on Fox Business on Nov. 10.

But with some campaign advisers steaming over what they’d seen during the walk-through, the discussion veered back to greenrooms.

“This is ridiculous,” fumed Christie’s campaign manager, Ken McKay. “We’re in a restroom.”

Paul’s team also piped in, with one adviser, Chris LaCivita, demanding that something be done to remedy the situation.

“Was there any advance done on the campaign work spaces?” he asked. “Because it sure as hell doesn’t seem like it.”

Another Paul adviser, Mike Biundo, also chimed in.

“We didn’t have these issues four years ago when we had 22 debates,” said Biundo, who in 2012 worked for Rick Santorum.

Hoffman responded: “Trust me, I was on those walk-throughs four years ago.”

“So was I,” Biundo shot back.

The RNC officials agreed to address the campaigns’ concerns, saying they would try to fix the problems with their work spaces. At one point during the complaining, Hoffman told the campaign advisers they should reconvene in a sidebar. (Late Tuesday eventing, LaCivita tweeted that his campaign had been granted by the RNC improved facilities and attached a picture of Paul's new workspace.)

Gail Gitcho, an aide to Bobby Jindal, chimed in to say that she’d heard enough about the greenrooms. The focus of the discussion, she said, should be on entry criteria for future debates — which, she argued, had made it hard for her candidate to be seen in prime time.

At various moments, the conversation veered to more substantive matters. Brett O’Donnell, an adviser to Lindsey Graham, suggested altering the debate format so in the future there would be two debates with seven or eight candidates onstage — each lasting 90 minutes, with the participants picked at random. Representatives for Paul and Bush, however, pushed back on the idea.

By the time the meeting wrapped up, those present say, RNC officials seemed exasperated by the whole thing. On Tuesday evening, campaigns received an email from RNC staffer Madeleine Westerhout about Wednesday morning’s debate-planning conference call.

“This call is cancelled tomorrow,” the email said. “We will follow up when it is rescheduled.”

RNC officials did not respond to requests for comment.