Who’s Who in the Tea Party? (Part I)

Just so we’ll know who’s supporting and/or financing the folks who will likely take over our Congress next January, I thought it would be a good idea to get to know the various groups that make up the Tea Party movement.  In the process of researching this series of posts, I discovered that the Tea Party movement is anything but monolithic.  It’s made up of: (1) the independent local  grassroots groups,  all of which are known as and/or loosely affiliated with the Tea Party Patriots;  (2) the “astroturf” groups, specifically the FreedomWorks Tea Party and the Tea Party Express; (3) the Tea Party Nation network, operated for profit by a small group assembled and controlled by a Republican personal injury attorney with tax-protestor inclinations; and (4) extremist groups that have jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon, including Resistnet and the 1776 Tea Party (aka TeaParty.org).  

So let’s start with the Astroturf groups, shall we?

The D.C.-based FreedomWorks Tea Party was built on the organizational and financial structure of a pre-existing FreedomWorks foundation and tax exempt organization, chaired by former Republican Congressman Dick Armey.  Even before the 2008 Presidential election, FreedomWorks was looking for a way to revitalize the Republican agenda by separating it from the unpopular policies of the Bush/Cheney administration.  The nascent Tea Party movement soon provided the perfect vehicle.  Although the FreedomWorks Tea Party is currently one of the smallest and most localized of the Tea Party organizations, the FreedomWorks organization provided significant political/public relations know-how and training, organizational assistance, conservative lobbying contacts and funding to the Tea Party movement. 

The Tea Party Express grew out of an existing California-based Republican PAC (the “Our Country Deserves Better Political Action Committee”).  The PAC was founded by a former Republican California state legislator and his former campaign manager, a California political and public relations consultant; both of them are still actively involved in the organization.  The Tea Party Express’ first chairman was Mark Williams, a conservative radio talk-show host who was forced to resign from his leadership role in the Tea Party movement after his racist “Tea Party Letter to Abraham Lincoln” attracted national media attention.  Williams was replaced by Amy Kremer, a former Tea Party Patriots staffer,  author of a right-wing political blog known as “Southern Belle Politics,”  and an outspoken “birther.”  As a PAC, the Tea Party Express is not a membership organization; it collects big bucks from conservative donors, and uses their contributions to finance bus tours and advertisements in support of right-wing political candidates around the country, including Scott Brown (the Massachussetts Republican who replaced Ted Kennedy in the Senate), Sharron Angle (who is challenging Harry Reid in Nevada), and, of course, Christine O’Donnell.

Stay tuned: tomorrow we’ll talk about the Tea Party Nation.