Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL), who fled the Democratic Party in December, is taking friendly fire after a National Republican Congressional Committee letter seemingly forgot he’d joined the caucus.
In a fundraising letter sent to 270 “loyal and dedicated conservatives” in Alabama’s 5th district, NRCC Chairman and Texas Rep. Pete Sessions wrote:
I want you to know that we’ve been up on the air all over Alabama’s 5th Congressional District so that voters there know your Democrat in Congress has been falling in line with Nancy Pelosi’s destructive liberal agenda.
Unfortunately, that Democrat is now a Republican, and that Republican is Griffith. But who should have received the letter but Madison County District Attorney Mo Brooks, who happens to be running against Griffith in the GOP primary. And Brooks pounced.
“Until he switched parties, this was the NRCC’s opinion of Griffith,” Brooks told the Decatur Daily (article available only to subscribers). “You remove the R and put back the D and the NRCC wouldn’t be defending his voting record.”
Politico reports that NRCC spokesman Andy Seré released a statement saying the mailing was “simply a minor administrative mistake.”
And Griffith? For his part, he doesn’t seem to blame Brooks for exploiting the letter. “I would expect him to do what he is doing,” Griffith told the Decatur Daily. “He’s looking for what he can find.”