A founder of a conservative opposition research group that has investigated people who are suing the oil industry has left the group amid a staff reshuffling.
Argus Insight partner Zach Parkinson rejoined the Republican National Committee earlier this month as the party’s communications director. Before helping to found Argus in April 2023, he was the RNC’s research director.
The opposition research firm, which has no website or social media presence, claimed to have 22 full-time investigators and media analysts in an undated pitch deck obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News in August. Some of those investigators, such as Nick Ballas, were filing open records requests for information that could be used to discredit officials involved in a $51 billion climate lawsuit against oil majors and other fossil fuel companies.
Parkinson, Ballas and at least one other employee have left Argus since November, when President Donald Trump won back the White House and Republicans gained unified control of Congress.
