Chris Christie’s bridge scandal overshadowed everything yesterday. As such, I’m late to this interesting excerpt about former Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner and Matt Hoskins, “the 38-year-old, California-based operative” who heads the Senate Conservatives Fund, an outside group that helps fund challengers who run against Republican incumbents.
According to Politico:
“[S]ome of Hoskins’s tactics seem to have gone too far for even conservative stalwarts — including one of the longtime leaders of the conservative movement, Ed Feulner, a founder of The Heritage Foundation, where DeMint now is at the helm.
“After receiving a Hoskins fundraising letter attacking McConnell, Feulner turned around and cut the senator [McConnell] a $1,000 check last month, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“’I like him,’ Feulner said in an email, referring to McConnell. ‘I think he’s done a good job holding people together.’”
This is noteworthy because of a). its incestuous nature, and b). how it almost perfectly symbolizes the current conservative schism.
To be very clear about what happened, here’s a summary: Before taking the helm at Heritage, then-Sen. Jim DeMint founded the Senate Conservatives Fund, and installed loyalist Matt Hoskins — who now runs it (in pretty much the same fashion DeMint did) — as executive director. But DeMint’s predecessor at Heritage (Ed Feulner) is clearly not happy with their direction — which makes me wonder how happy he is with the new direction of Heritage and Heritage Action.
This, of course, is an ongoing story…
UPDATE: Heritage’s Vice President for Communications Mike Gonzalez emails me this quote from Ed Feulner:
“I’m happy with the direction at Heritage and Heritage Action. The fact that Heritage Action is holding the feet of some Members of Congress to the fire delights me. Heritage continues to be, as it always has been, a conservative organization, not a Republican one.”