From Common Dreams.org -- December 29, 2009
Majority Of Tea Party Group's Spending Went To GOP Firm That Created It
by Zachary Roth
The political action committee behind the Tea Party Express (TPE) -- which already has been slammed as inauthentic and corporate-controlled by rival factions in the Tea Party movement -- directed almost two thirds of its spending during a recent reporting period back to the Republican consulting firm that created the PAC in the first place.
Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) spent around $1.33 million from July through November, according to FEC filings examined by TPMmuckraker. Of that sum, a total of $857,122 went to Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates, or people associated with it.
OCDB, which built the Tea Party Express, is essentially a Russo, Marsh creation, as we've detailed. The PAC's site was registered in July 2008 by Sal Russo, the firm's founder. That site also lists Russo as the PAC's "chief strategist." Tea Party Express fundraising emails, sent by OCDB and obtained by TPMmuckraker, come from another Russo, Marsh employee, Joe Wierzbicki.
Just for good measure, legendary GOP bamboozler Howard Kaloogian is also on OCDB's board, and has close ties to Russo, Marsh.
From July through November 2009, the firm received $832,403 from OCDB, according to the FEC records. An additional $8,500 went to Russo himself. And Wierzbicki took in $16,219.
The services for which Russo, Marsh was paid appear to be legitimate campaign needs. For instance, it took in several hundred thousand for what OCDB listed in the FEC filings as "PAC Email Newsletter Costs - Generic Fun." That would appear to refer to the numerous fund-raising and activism emails sent to volunteers to promote and build the Tea Party Express -- a nationwide bus tour to build opposition to the Obama agenda -- many of them by Wierzbicki.
But one expert on political action committees told TPMmuckraker it was unusual for a PAC to direct so much spending back to the entity that created it. And the spending details raised hackles among members of the Tea Party Patriots, a rival faction of conservative activists who have denounced TPE as a creature of Republican political professionals that lacks grassroots authenticity. In an email to a Patriots group that was obtained by TPMmuckaker, one TPPer who had examined the filings asked, "What would the true grassroots people think if they knew their money is being spent in this manner?"
A message left in the general mailbox for Russo, Marsh was not immediately returned.
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16 comments:
how in gods name could you possible have the nerve to talk about political funding from the tea parties when george soros owns your party and hundreds of offshoots for his criminal enterprize ! you are a joke !politics1-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA&feature=related
What complaints do you have against this video and his rants???
Thanks for joining the fight politics101!
You should compare your comment to what Al Gore has made on global warming. Just another liberal scam ripping off other people trying to make a difference and now liberals would love to continue this scam with cap and trade.
Politics 101:
What do you possibly have against my darling George Soros?
Brandon:
Whatever Al Gore may have made on Global Warming, he should have earned a lot more from the Internet.
Maybe Al Gore didn't invent the Internet (and he never said that he did).
However, Al Gore did recognize the potential of the Internet long before your moron Republicans did, and he led the fight to provide substantial government funding to build and develop the Internet.
Of course, I know you are against government funding for anything, BB. You would rather have funded the internet out of your own $22,000 a year private salary.
However, without Al Gore, we probably would not have had the amazing Internet we have today.
And, without Al Gore, we will have Global Warming.
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"However, without Al Gore, we probably would not have had the amazing Internet we have today.
And, without Al Gore, we will have Global Warming."
-CJP
CJP your one sad dude! Are you listening to yourself? "without Al Gore, we will have global warming"
First global warming may or may not be caused by humans and second why the hell do we need Al Gore making millions off his scam to prevent it? Hell we dont even know if we can prevent it!!!
"Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) spent around $1.33 million from July through November"
-CJP
Why the hell do you care??? Obama made around 2 million dollars last year by himself and you worried about a group spending almost half that, why?
BB: Al Gore is warning us about Global Warming the way he was one of the first politicians to alert us to the potential of the Internet.
Gore was right then about the Internet, and he's right now about Global Warming.
Obama made two million dollars because he wrote a best-selling book.
Why don't you try writing a book, Brandon?
Even your heroine, Sarah Palin, is cashing in on the book market.
Sarah is living proof that you don't even have to tell the truth to have a best-seller.
"Obama made two million dollars because he wrote a best-selling book."
-CJP
I am not worried about Obama making 2 million. I dont understand why your concerned about a group spending 1.33 million.
Just wondering when do you think Obama is going to start falling thru with his campaign promises?
Paying down the national debt, running the lobbiest out of Washington, bringing our parties and our country together.
BB: Obama will never bring the parties together. The Republicans won't allow it.
The GOP declared war on Obama before he was inaugurated, and they haven't let up for a single day. And they won't.
I think Obama has finally realized that bipartisanship is dead with the current Republican Party. There is no such thing as cooperation or co-existence.
It's a war to the death.
Forget about bringing this country together. It can't be done -- by anyone.
We're in an all-out war, and the only question is who is going to win.
"BB: Obama will never bring the parties together. The Republicans won't allow it."
-CJP
Then why are the democrats not allowing republicans into their health care meetings? If its all the republicans fault, why arent the democrats making an effort?
"Just wondering when do you think Obama is going to start falling thru with his campaign promises?
Paying down the national debt, running the lobbiest out of Washington, ..."
or reducing the deficit?
However, without Al Gore, we probably would not have had the amazing Internet we have today.---CJP
Yes, we would have. It is called CAPITALISM, CJP. Gore believes in that concept, that is why he is pushing this global warming thing down our throats. He stands to make BILLIONS, and so does GE if Cap & Trade goes through. However there is a God, and people are getting wise (see how seriously the UK is taking the email leaks!)
We are all getting sick of the global warming scam and NO ONE has proven that global warming is even man made.
AND IF SEIU CAN DONATE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO A CAMPAIGN---WHY IS IT WRONG FOR THE TEAPARTY PEOPLE TO????
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