GOP flack says he was fired for criticizing Rush

A former spokesman for a chapter of the GOP said Friday that he was fired because he criticized talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Kevin Stevenson was the flack for the Marathon County, Wis., GOP until last week when the party fired him, he said on MSNBC.

Stevenson penned an op-ed in the Wasau Daily Herald at the end of March that was highly critical of Limbaugh’s controversial (but run of the mill for him) assertion that he wants President Obama to “fail.”

“Republicans do not agree with all of the president’s policies, but no one wants him to fail as president,” Stevenson wrote. “That’s because when leaders fail, so do their followers. No good citizen wants the United States to fail. Some may think that he will fail, but this is far different from wanting him to fail. What we want most is to be a part of the process and have our ideas looked at fairly.”

On Friday, Stevenson said the party did not respond kindly to the op-ed. “They said you can’t write for us if you’re not with us,” Stevenson said.

Stevenson went onto say that he is now an “inactive member” of the county GOP.

jeremy.jacobs@digital-stage.thehill.com