CNN reportedly let go Lou Dobbs so they could focus on middle-of-the-road, nonpartisan reporting untainted by opinion journalism. That makes their latest decision to keep Alex Castellanos on the payroll a head-scratcher.

Longtime Republican media strategist Alex Castellanos will continue to serve as an on-air personality for CNN despite recently taking on a consulting role for the Republican National Committee, the network confirms.

On Monday, it was reported that Castellanos, who has served as a media consultant for many Republican presidential candidates as well as an advisor for the private health insurance industry, will play an expanded role at the RNC after the committee parted ways with its communications director, Trevor Francis.

The difference is that, while Brazile and Begala have been known to advise individual candidates or party staffers on various issues, I don’t believe they were commentating on CNN while working for the party apparatus. And Castellanos is probably more than just an advisor – his expanded role comes precisely at the moment when the RNC has fired its communications director. While CNN claims that Castellanos will not be paid by the RNC, allowing him to continue at the network, his role with the Party as a top communications aide basically means that the RNC is getting an unpaid political announcement every time he shows up on The Situation Room or Anderson Cooper 360.

Castellanos has a colorful history as a master of the Republican attack ad, having created the racially-tinged Jesse Helms “Hands” ad that led him to victory over Harvey Gantt in 1990.