Allen West taps conservative talk radio host as chief of staff

Tea Party-backed Republican Allen West, who defeated Rep. Ron Klein (D-Fla.) last week, has tapped a controversial Florida talk radio host to serve as his new chief of staff. 

Talk radio host Joyce Kaufman, who told a crowd of West supporters at a campaign event over the summer that "if ballots don't work, bullets will," announced on her show Tuesday that she has accepted the gig in D.C. 

Kaufman told listeners Tuesday, "I am just grateful that I have been asked to join in the fight." 

Kaufman was an early backer of West and proved one of his staunchest supporters over the course of the campaign, but the host has been roundly criticized over some of her past comments on illegal immigration. She also gained attention for demanding a Florida supermarket chain cease handing out calendars that marked Dec. 7 as the Islamic New Year and not Pearl Harbor Day. 

Here's what Kaufman said at a campaign event in July: "I don't care how this gets painted by the mainstream media. I don't care if this ends up on YouTube, because I am convinced that the most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights was that they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don't work, bullets will." 

During the campaign, West was a frequent guest on Kaufman's radio show.