Republican Study Committee Director Abruptly Fired in Likely "Establishment v. Grassroots" Feud
Paul Teller, executive director of the Republican Study Committee, "the caucus of House conservatives," was abruptly fired today. Why might you care? National Journal's Josh Kraushaar has the analysis:
The Republican Study Committee Chairman fired its longtime executive director, out of concern he was leaking confidential conversations to conservative groups hostile to Republican interests. They're at odds with each other over political strategy, with the Club for Growth keeping its powder dry, while the Senate Conservatives Fund is eagerly looking for opportunities to challenge sitting Republican senators who are ideologically unkosher…..
Politico on what happened and why:
a lawmaker present [at the meeting where his firing was announced] told POLITICO "Paul was divulging private, member level conversations and actively working against strategies developed by RSC members," said the senior GOP aide familiar with the group…
If there were any staffer on Capitol Hill that were nearly as powerful as a member of Congress, it was Teller. He has been involved in conservative strategy for more than a decade, helping drag legislative debates to the right. But he often chafed on Republican leadership, who saw him as causing intra-party drama.
That drama, as one person close to D.C. conservative activism tells me, was mostly on the side of conservative movement types vs. the political establishment of the Party per se.