A tea party group is launching a new site targeting three Kentucky Republican congressmen who voted to re-open the federal government.
The Tea Party Leadership Fund announced this week that the website will encourage donors to the 87 GOP members who backed the McConnell-Reid plan to withdraw their support. Those lawmakers include Kentucky congressmen Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie and Hal Rogers.
Dan Backer is the group’s treasurer. He says lawmakers such as Guthrie have an overall good record, but he ultimately funded the president’s health care law.
“So we have the list of 87 and I’m scanning it eyeball right now. Oh, wow. And here’s a surprise. One of those 87 is Brett Guthrie from the Kentucky Second. And you know, this is a great example. Brett’s a guy that I think highly of and we’ve always thought very highly of. We think he’s a good representative and by in large he’s very much a conservative, but then he took this vote,” he says.
Backer says lawmakers on his group’s list have let their constituents down, but other Republicans have criticized these efforts as “purity for profit.”
Guthrie’s campaign spokesman says he voted to either defund or repeal Obamacare over three dozen times.
