The criticism, offered to a roomful of congressional aides, did not sit well with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. | Getty RSC staffer out over internal dispute

Republican Study Committee executive director Scott Parkinson submitted his resignation and will be leaving the conservative caucus after an awkward run in with House GOP leadership — and his boss, RSC Chairman Mark Walker.

The longtime Hill aide landed in hot water just before the State of the Union when he argued at an off-the-record Heritage event that GOP whips were phoning it in on a conservative immigration bill. Many lawmakers who want to see a vote on the legislation — authored by Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte of Virginia — have also privately vented that leadership isn’t working hard enough to whip the bill, which leaders deny.


The criticism, offered to a roomful of congressional aides, did not sit well with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise — a former RSC chair himself — who pushed back on the remarks in a subsequent RSC meeting.

Walker, according to one person familiar with the situation, didn’t know about Parkinson’s criticism and was caught off guard by Scalise bringing it up in front of dozens of RSC members. Walker was also irked at Parkinson over other critical things he’d recently overheard him say about other RSC members. While Scalise told Walker he didn’t see the disagreement as cause for termination, Parkinson offered his resignation because of the dispute, and Walker accepted it.

Another source familiar with the incident said Walker's decision had more to do with his own disagreement with Parkinson — not so much the run-in with leadership.

Parkinson declined to comment, as did the RSC. But people who know him well expect he'll stay around the Hill. A Wisconsinite and former aide to Sen. Marco Rubio, he’s well known in D.C. circles and is what GOP insiders call a "true believer" of the conservative movement.

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It’s not the first time an RSC staffer has exited amid tensions with GOP leaders. White House legislative liaison staffer Paul Teller, who led the RSC under Rep. Jim Jordan and Scalise, was fired in 2013 when Scalise found out he was urging outside groups to pressure House Republicans to oppose a budget deal.

Indeed, the tensions between conservatives in the House and establishment leadership has long ebbed and flowed. And with GOP leaders’ recent endorsement of a $300 billion federal spending increase — and toxic immigration matters at the fore — Parkinson’s exit will hardly mean an end to the intra-party battling.

