The high-powered executive director of the influential conservative Republican Study Committee, an independent arm of the House, has been fired for allegedly leaking internal conversations to lawmakers,
Politico reported Wednesday.
Executive director Paul Teller submitted his resignation at the request of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the chairman of the RSC, according to a senior Republican aide.
“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.
“Trust between senior staff and RSC members is paramount. No staffer is above a member," the aide told Politico.
Teller was considered a powerful figure on Capitol Hill, involved in advancing conservative social and economic agendas for more than a decade in the House.
His firing comes on the same day Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, slammed conservative groups opposed to the budget compromise of “using our members and they’re using the American people for their own goals.”
Scalise and Teller didn’t immediately comment to Politico.