A conservative Republican activist from Macomb County is dabbling in the campaign consultant business and it appears his first major client is Democratic congressional candidate who’s trying to unseat GOP Congressman David Trott of Oakland County.
According to Federal Election Commission documents, Jason Mcclanahan of Warren is on a $1,250 monthly retainer as a “strategic planning” consultant for Anil Kumar of Bloomfield Hills, who is making another run in the 11th Congressional District after losing there in the 2014 Democratic primary.
Mcclanahan (Irish spelling) was a big supporter of Ron Paul in the 2012 presidential race (pictured above) and he is a member of the pro-Paul Campaign for Liberty group. In 2013, he was named regional chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus.
As a libertarian-style conservative, he is certainly an odd pairing with Kumar, as he has little tolerance for moderate Republicans, was a supporter of controversial ex-RNC member Dave Agema, and dabbles in right-wing conspiracy theories, according to his Facebook posts.
To be fair, Kumar is more of a moderate than a liberal — a mixed bag — who has supported a flat (income) tax at the same time that he has advocated for a broad federal program to subsidize tuition debt elimination for recent college graduates.
A urologist who runs a surgical clinic, Dr. Kumar advocates reforms of Obamacare to reduce high patient deductibles, but he is also a big fan of alternative energy projects.
As for Mcclanahan, he was appointed to the Warren City Planning Commission by Mayor Jim Fouts about two years ago. He has worked on election campaigns for years, ran and lost for Warren City Council in 2011, and considered a run for Congress in 2010.
Apparently he has a penchant for labeling Republicans who aren’t as far to the right as he is – those who aren’t recognized as a part of the GOP’s “liberty wing” — a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
I’ll leave it to others to come up with a label for a conservative Republican who works behind the scenes to help a Democrat oust a GOP incumbent congressman.
