House Republicans on Wednesday morning were calling for the firing of the Republican Study Committee top staffer after he was caught sending e-mails to conservative groups urging them to pressure GOP lawmakers to vote against a debt proposal from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Infuriated by the e-mails from Paul Teller, the executive director of the RSC, members started chanting “Fire him, fire him!” while Teller stood silently at a closed-door meetings of House Republicans.
“It was an unbelievable moment,” said one GOP insider. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Teller and other RSC aides sent a Tuesday e-mail to outside conservatives seeking to “kill the Boehner deal.” The RSC emails were sent to a listserv with conservative activists.
“We need statements coming up to the Hill every hour of the day in mounting opposition to the plan,” RSC staffer Wesley Goodman wrote to a Google email group called “CutCapBalance.” That group included Teller.
RSC Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio), who opposes the Boehner plan, apologized for the incident.
Teller did not respond to a request for comment following the GOP Conference meeting.
In a brief interview with POLITICO Wednesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he’s “an RSC member and I don’t like to see Republicans attacking other Republicans.”
A steady stream of Republicans stood up at the meeting to heap abuse on Teller and the RSC. House Republicans were particularly peeved that that the RSC was targeting some of its own dues-paying members.
Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a member of leadership and one of those targeted in an RSC e-mail, stood up, read the message aloud and demanded Teller explain himself.
“If we keep this from ever coming to the floor, we have a greater chance of victory than defeating on a vote on the floor.” Goodman ended his email saying: “Here are the people we need to reach today who are undecided or only leaning one way right now,” according to the e-mail, which was obtained by POLITICO.
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.), an RSC member and one of those on the RSC “target list,” said that leadership has given the RSC “everything that we have asked for.” Ellmers said she may quit the group.
“Yet when it comes time for a little bit of compromise on the RSC’s part, they’re not willing to compromise. And that’s just not the way to go about this,” Ellmers said
Ellmers said there “seems to be a little bit more than a connection” between the RSC and outside conservative groups.
The RSC controversy comes as Boehner and the GOP leadership are twisting arms to get their members in line behind the debt package, which is supposed to come to the House floor on Thursday.
Jordan and other conservatives are opposed to the measure, saying it does not go far enough in cutting government spending. The Congressional Budget Office ruled on Tuesday that the Boehner plan falls $150 billion short of the $1 trillion goal set by Boehner, forcing House leaders to delay the vote by a day to revise the bill.
The CBO announcement worried some conservatives, who don’t believe Boehner and the leadership have gone far enough in proposing spending cuts.
Yet the RSC fight was the focus of many members’ attention on Wednesday morning. “There are a lot of members really ticked off at this,” said a GOP lawmaker, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
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