The largest conservative caucus in Congress will soon have a new executive director. Dan Ziegler will leave his post at Heritage Action next month, the Washington Examiner is first to report, to take the helm of the Republican Study Committee.
The move comes shortly after the ouster of the last RSC chief and amid questions about the ideological direction of the more than 154-member group. Scott Parkinson was out as executive director last month, after he offered off-the-record criticism of Republican leadership at an event sponsored by the Heritage Foundation.
“A lot of the speculation around the departure of Scott was that it was a sign of the direction RSC was taking, that perhaps we wouldn’t continue to be effective conservatives,” a senior GOP aide told the Washington Examiner. “That was a misinterpretation.”
Ziegler proves as much. The staffer rose through the ranks of Heritage and Heritage Action as a bur in the side of Republican leadership. He leaves the political arm of that think tank after almost a dozen years.
“Born and raised a conservative. Dyed in the wool,” one Republican staffer said of Ziegler and his ideology. “No one is going to question his conservative bona fides.”
Because the RSC is the biggest conservative caucus on the block and because its executive director wields oversized influence on Capitol Hill, the hiring is significant. The committee has consistently served as a counterweight to the establishment and can be as much of a problem for the leadership as its members will tolerate. Most recently, RSC was seen balking at the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill.
Current RSC Chairman Mark Walker, R-N.C., made the hire with the concurrence of the former chairmen — a group that includes Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and Freedom Caucus Founding Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Ziegler will take the helm as action in the House itself calms down and representatives head home to campaign for re-election. And he will have a new boss at the beginning of next Congress, as Walker is limited to a single term as chairman.
