Over the past year I've spent a lot of time blogging about the Tea Party Movement. The gist of the posts revolve around the fact that the movement is silly to watch, they are not as "grass roots" as they would like you to think and that there is significant money to be made off of this group.
Apparently I was right!
Showing that the rallys were silly was pretty easy. All it took for most readers was to view the following youtube clip. (And considering the amount of angry reaction to my posting this clip from the far right the first time...I'ld say I touched on a sore spot for Right-wingers.) This was my all time favorite video clip of 2009. It's got music, it's got dancing ladies...what more could you ask for? The gentlemen leading this "super-sized" chorus line is Lloyd Marcus. He is the front man for the TEA PARTY EXPRESS. A bus tour that criss crossed the country raising money to fight the socialist agenda of Barack Obama with constant media attention from Fox News.
What most people don't know is that the TEA PARTY EXPRESS is actually separate from the original Tea Party Patriots group, which in fairness is a grass roots organization. They rely on volunteers for thier operations. The bus tour known as the TEA PARTY EXPRESS was backed by the GOP political action committee, OUR COUNTRY DESERVES BETTER (OCDB) which is run by the political consulting firm of Russo, Marsh & Rogers. (So much for that "grass roots" label)
Now some of the unofficial leaders of the original grass roots movement, the Tea Party Patriots are beginning to get upset with what they perceive as the "hijacking" of thier movement by the GOP backed TEA PARTY EXPRESS, reports motherjones.com. This fall, Amy Kremer left the Patriots to join the EXPRESS movement. She also took the extensive data base listing the e-mail addresses of all of the Patriot's members. (The Patriots are now suing in court for the return of their electronic data.)
Even worse according to Robin Stublin, (a Florida member of the Patriots) a look into the FEC reports detailing the money raised by the EXPRESS group shows that in 2009 they raised almost 2 million dollars. Some of this money went to expenses. $50,000 to decorate the bus with the logo. $225,706 to Fox Business News for ads (no wonder they got so much coverage from Fox News). $2,000 to pay a speaking fee to "Joe the Plumber". And (my personal favorite) $1,597.29 for a meal at a steak house....for 6 people. (For those of you who are mathematically challenged that's a check average of $266.22/person. If you donated to the Tea Party movement, think about that the next time you try to decide if you can afford dinner at Applebees!)
Now, none of these expenditures are necessarily bad. If you are trying to raise money, you have to spend money. But what upsets Mr. Stublin most is that of the $2 million dollars raised.....$857,000 ($0.43 out of every dollar donated) found it's way back to the coffers of Russo, Marsh & Rogers! And the rich get richer thanks to the gullibility of the fringe right!
Stublin asked Russo, Marsh & Rogers if they would put a disclaimer on their material pointing out that they were not affiliated with any other tea party group. Not only was the request refused, but Mr. Stublin was accused of showing his "liberal stripes" with his anti-corporate rants.
Said Mr. Stublin,
"People think this money is going to the Tea Party movement...I don't like what I think they stand for. These are my opinions, but the bottom line, personally, I think they want to take over the movement, make it their own, and take over the fundraising potential to get their candidates elected."
Gee, you think? youtube clip