The conservative Republican was videotaped talking to a tea party group recently.
"I was proud to vote for Thom Tillis to be the speaker again, when we got back up there this year," he told them. "Because last session, he was great. ... But, now he's running for U.S. Senate, or planning to. Things have changed. They tell us all the time about how bad it was when they were in the minority and the Democrat leadership wouldn't let them get their bills moved or anything. Well now the constitutional conservatives, the Republican part of the House, knows what that's like."Wednesday Pittman apologized in a letter distributed to reporters.
"While we do still have some disagreement about process, I have done damage to his reputation in a manner in which I did not consider at the time. I regret that this has damaged our friendship, and I ask for his forgiveness, not for the disagreement, but for the manner in which I handled it."
