Despite controversies, West continues to raise big dollars

According to recent reports, tea party favorite Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, raised nearly $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2011. As noted in a piece featured on Allen West Nation, his “second-quarter tally is more typical of a Senate candidate than a freshman member of the House.” In fact, West’s tally is better than that of Senate candidates George LeMieux, Mike Haridopolos and Adam Hasner.

In comparison, West opponent Patrick Murphy (one of two Democrats running to unseat him) has reported that he raised $450,000 in the same time frame.

West, a tea party favorite, is one of only two Republican African-Americans in Congress. He has become well known for aligning himself with controversial groups like ACT! for America and Citizens for National Security since being elected.

West has also become known for espousing his views on Sharia, which he believes to be an “enemy threat doctrine.” In one interview, West said that Congress should focus on the “infiltration of the Sharia practice into all of our operating systems in our country as well as across Western Civilization.”

He also remarked that President Obama should fire Attorney General Eric Holder due to controversy surrounding a program conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The so-called “Fast and Furious” operation involved allowing hundreds of guns across the border, in the hopes that they would eventually be traced back to their original owners — who would then be arrested and prosecuted. The operation allegedly backfired, however, when it was discovered that U.S. border agents were killed by weapons in the program. Speaking with Nashville radio host Steve Gil, West said that the controversy was “just another sad chapter in the Eric Holder book of ineptness and incompetence,” and that Obama would be “complicit” if he did not call for Holder’s resignation.