Allen West: Portrait of An Unserious Man

Via Joy-Ann Reid: Allan West has hired conservative talk radio show host Joyce Kaufman to be his chief of staff. Kaufman has no experience in government administration. Running a congressional office is not the same as operating a Checkers fast food restaurant.. West has no experience in elected office. West has chosen someone with less experience serving in the government than him. At least West has a tarnished military career.

Who is Kaufman? The short answer is she is a bigot. Kaufman uses violent rhetoric and is unapologetic about her hatred of Muslims. Kaufman said that Palestine never existed. That is historically inaccurate. Jews and Muslims and other Nomadic tribes have lived on the land that is now Israel.



Kaufman gives another insane rant on immigration. Kaufman said immigrants bring "third world customs to America." Kaufman says immigrants reproduce at "three times" the rate as Americans. Kaufman is Puerto Rican and you can hear her self-loathing for her own heritage.

Kaufman goes on to claim that people do not have the money to go on vacations because the government supports illegal immigrants with tax dollars. I guess Bill Gates isn't going to the Bahamas. Kaufman makes up nonsense that three quarter of law enforcement officers in Broward County were shot by illegal immigrants. This is about believable as Jan Brewer claiming that Highlander-style beheadings were occurring in Arizona.



Ask yourself this: would you let Kafman run your office?

Update: Think Progress reports that Kaufman plans to continue working in talk radio while being chief of staff. This could be a major no no.

Carol Dixon, council for the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, told ThinkProgress that she had not heard of Kaufman's situation in particular, but said that generally this setup could be "potentially problematic." "There may be potential confidentiality issues - some of the issues she's reporting on may be gained by virtue of her House status. At a staff level it seems problematic," Dixon said. The committee's rules also say Kaufman must earn fair market salery from WFTL, and refrain from using any office equipment for her radio duties.

I seriously doubt Kaufman or West care about confidentialality issues. This will be a test for if the Republican House leadership can keep the fringe members of their caucus in line. Judging by how John Boehner allowed Michele Bachmann to conduct a Tea Party rally against his wishes; I'm betting Kaufman and West will get their way.