Document: Tea Party Express Formed To Raise GOP Cash
I'm sure you're all very surprised:
The Tea Party has been billed as an organic grassroots operation, but a newly uncovered document obtained by Politico suggests the movement has been successfully co-opted as a Republican fundraising ploy.
GOP political consultant Joe Wierzbicki floated the proposal a year ago today to create the Tea Party Express, a nationwide bus tour to "give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus." His idea eventually became one of the best known brands in the Tea Party movement.
The document cautioned planners to be careful when discussing the ruse to use Tea Parties for political gain. "We have to be very, very careful about discussing amongst ourselves anyone we include 'outside of the family' because quite frankly, we are not only not part of the political establishment or conservative establishment, but we are also sadly not currently a part of the 'tea party' establishment," Wierzbicki wrote.
Wierzbicki, who works for the Sacramento firm Russo Marsh + Rogers, went on to outline how conservative media including Fox News could be leveraged to hype the Tea Party Express. He recommended using "mentions and possibly even promotion from conservative/pro-tea party bloggers, talk radio hosts, Fox News commentators, etc…"
Citing Michigan as an example, he noted that one of the plan's primary goals would be to elect Republican candidates. "It is also worth considering making a return run to Michigan. Former Republican Michigan governor, John Engler, has recently stated that he believes the Republican Party will do quite well in Michigan," he continued.
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2 thoughts on "Document: Tea Party Express Formed To Raise GOP Cash"
pragmatic realist says:
hmmmm. not republican, not conservative, not tea party. so who's the money for? sounds like a con and a scam to me. people get jobs to travel around on a bus all summer and pay their expenses with money collected from the rubes.
Brian B. says:
The professional conservative movement has been a con and a scam for decades. They convince the "rubes" that their donations will go to fight for conservative causes, but really they are just paying for consultant's salaries and benefits.