Koch Brothers Back Embattled Tea Party Congressman

Oh, we’re sorry – we meant to say that the well-known grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity is backing a pro-growth candidate. Sorry, David and Charles. Our bad!

One of the country’s most influential conservative political organizations announced Wednesday that it was diving into a bitter Republican primary in Michigan, its first such intervention into the broader battle between the party establishment and Tea Party conservatives.

The group, Americans for Prosperity, will spend about $230,000 on advertisements thanking Representative Justin Amash for fighting against President Obama’s signature health care law, officials there said — a shot at establishment donors who are rallying behind his challenger, Brian Ellis.

The ads do not attack Mr. Ellis, but the decision to get into a hotly contested primary on behalf of one of Congress’s most outspoken lawmakers hints at the delicate line the group is trying to walk. It is supporting conservatives seeking to reshape the party without committing itself to an expensive internecine struggle in the Senate that could endanger the party’s prospects for regaining control of the chamber this year.

“Congressman Amash has been a rock-solid vote for free-market issues in the House, and has been a leader on efforts to stop Obamacare,” said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity. “A.F.P. is well known for holding members accountable when they vote the wrong way; we think it’s also important to thank those who do the right thing and stand up against big -government laws like Obamacare that are hurting so many American families.”

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.