Roll Call has blasted Eric Cantor and the GOP’s “rebranding effort” for their use of taxpayer dollars to foot the bill for this:

As believers in a strong two-party system, we support Republican efforts to “rebrand,” “reach out” to the public and develop new ideas.

But political work, such as that being done by the National Council for a New America created by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), should be done with political money and not with resources paid for by taxpayers.

As Roll Call reported on Monday, Cantor staff and GOP ethics attorney Jan Baran have walked a very fine line to comply with House rules in funding, publicizing and staffing the new organization.

But we think that the whole endeavor ought to be paid for out of political contributions.

The NCNA’s original launch letter carefully — though disingenuously — declared “this is not a Republican-only forum.”

And Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in one conference call that “this is a conversation with America. This is not a rebranding effort.”

Just think about this for a minute. The Republicans are using taxpayer funds to try and fix their own public image. How does this sit with conservatives? Should people have to pay taxes to help fix the Republican brand? Couldn’t this start the slippery slope to socialism?

I think the Republicans have a lot to answer for on this. If the conservative branch of their party is truly conservative then the harshest questions should be coming from those who say they champion for smaller government spending and a reduction of the abuse of taxpayer dollars.