Jack Hunter, the Rand Paul aide who drew attention in recent weeks when his former alter ego of “the Southern Avenger” was revealed, has resigned. Earlier this month, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Hunter’s past as a shock-jock radio host with Confederate and secessionist sympathies.
Hunter said he was stepping down because his past was a distraction to Paul’s work and he didn’t want the controversy to further affect the senator. “I’ve also become far more libertarian over the years, a philosophy that encourages a more tolerant worldview, through the lens of which I now look back on some of my older comments with embarrassment,” he said in a statement.
During the time he appeared under the “Southern Avenger” persona, through much of the 2000s in South Carolina, Hunter reportedly donned a mask with the Confederate flag on it.
Paul first hired Hunter in 2010 to help write his book The Tea Party Goes to Washington, and Hunter later became the senator’s social-media director. Paul had previously stood by his aide, saying Hunter had denounced his past statements and that he would have fired Hunter “immediately” if he believed his employee held such views.