The Concord Coalition, a political think-tank organization, based in Arlington, Virginia, has recently fired their director of government relations, Phil Larue. The organization made the decision after a video surfaced online of Larue speaking at a protest outside of Rep. Ryan Costello’s (R-PA) office. In his speech, which critics are calling a “media stunt,” Larue condemns President Donald Trump’s travel ban, and criticized a statement released from Costello’s office, saying that “unfortunately, [the statement] didn’t say a whole lot about this executive order.”
Larue continued his rant against Costello, who will be up for re-election in 2018, saying “What we need is, we need somebody who will speak up for all of us. We need leaders in Washington that will represent the values that have made this county great.”
After the news of his firing broke, Larue tweeted:
https://twitter.com/FiscalPhil/status/831511270448824322
Larue does not mention that the Concord Coalition is a 501(c)3 non-profit, and is not allowed to take partisan political stances. According to the Concord Coalition,
“[H]e was fired for being political and making a political speech. We are a nonpartisan organization. We don’t endorse or speak out in a political way. … It had nothing to do with the content of the speech.”
The Concord Coalition’s website describes the organization as, “a nationwide, non-partisan, grassroots organization advocating generationally responsible fiscal policy. The Concord Coalition was founded in 1992 by the late former Senator Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.), late former Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Peter Peterson.”
