Collins filed paperwork for RNC chair campaign before he quit the party

Gentry Collins, the former Republican National Committee political director who quit his job in protest of Michael Steele's leadership of the party, announced Tuesday that he's seeking his old boss's job. But it looks like Collins had his eye on the GOP chairmanship well before he resigned from the RNC.

As the Iowa Republican's Craig Robinson notices, paperwork incorporating Collins for Chairman, an Iowa-based political committee set to raise funds for Collins' RNC bid, was signed on Nov. 9 and filed with the Iowa secretary of state on Nov. 12. The paperwork was signed and filed by Brian Kennedy, a former Iowa GOP chair who is spearheading Collins' RNC bid. Collins resigned from the RNC on Nov. 16, the same day he sent a letter to party officials trashing Steele's leadership and accusing him of running the party into massive debt ahead of the 2012 campaign.

The fact that Collins was already planning to seek the RNC job could potentially undermine the claims he has made against Steele, whose allies have tried to cast Collins as someone equally responsible for the RNC's drama during the 2010 campaign.

Of course, Collins isn't the one gunning for Steele's job. On Tuesday, former Michigan GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis announced he had picked up the endorsements of eight RNC officials in his campaign to head the GOP. Former Bush administration official Maria Cino and former RNC committeewoman Ann Wagner have also declared candidacies. Also on Tuesday, Connecticut GOP Chairman Chris Healy told National Review he's thinking about running.

Steele has hinted he will seek re-election, but so far he has not officially thrown his name into the race.

(Photo of Collins courtesy of Iowa State University)