Chair of House Republican Study Cmte was surrounded by liberals growing up

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Tomorrow's Washington Post will profile Paul Teller, the executive director of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus of the House of Representatives. The article opens:

Paul Teller was reared by liberal Jewish parents on Long Island. He was educated by liberals. And when he grew up, he and his wife, Maxine, settled in the nation's capital, where 7 percent of registered voters are Republicans.

So how, then, did Teller wind up as one of the most influential conservative aides in Congress, revering Ronald Reagan, fighting Big Government and serving as an unofficial liaison to the Tea Party movement?

"I have no idea," Teller said. "The joke in my family is that I was accidentally dropped on my head as a child and the side effect was conservatism."

And yes, this is a Tea Party type:

Whereas most Republicans have taken a cautious approach to their support for organizations such as Tea Party Patriots, Tea Party Nation and Tea Party Express, Teller describes the RSC as "very in line" with the tea partyers.

"We're all in the same battle here," he said.

"We're trying to reduce the size of government, trying to reduce spending, reduce taxes, restore what we think is constitutionally based liberty in America," Teller continued.

It's not just Paul Teller who escaped from liberalism to engage in conservatism. I can name others. Take: Bernard Goldberg, Noel Sheppard, David Horowitz, and Linda Chavez.