While Tea Party endorsements ring out loudly for Republicans and hardly at all if ever for Democrats, the organization called Tea Party Patriots proclaims loudly that it is independent from the Republican Party establishment:
“We’ve worked hard to distance ourselves from the Tea Party Express because of their close affiliation with the Republican Party, the Republican establishment and their PAC,” said Debbie Dooley, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella group of local activists. The Patriots have supported a strict nonpartisan posture but also have struggled to raise money, and Dooley contends that’s partly because of Tea Party Express.
“When people donate to Tea Party Express, they think that they are donating to a tea party, because they don’t read the fine print at the bottom of their e-mails that says it is a PAC,” she said.
The aforementioned Tea Party Express is run by a Republican consulting firm. But Tea Party Patriots proclaims its difference. Tea Party Patriots proclaims its independence.
But how independent is it really? Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin are co-founders and national coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots organization, living in Sacramento and Atlanta respectively. Meckler and Martin are also leaders of a parallel Section 527 political organization called the Tea Party PAC, Inc.: President and Secretary, respectively. The pair are President and Secretary of a third Section 527 political organization called the Tea Party Patriots PAC, and if you don’t get the connection between these PACs and the Tea Party Patriots organization, the paperwork makes it explicit:
Well, hang on, there: didn’t Tea Party Patriots say above that it found PAC activity to be distasteful? So why are its two most prominent leaders founding a Tea Party PAC and a Tea Party Patriots PAC?
These PACs aren’t just any old political action committees either. They share the same business address: P.O. Box 365, McLean, Virginia, which is a funny thing for organizations whose President lives in California and whose Secretary lives in Georgia. It turns out that P.O. Box 365, McLean VA is not an ordinary address. It’s the address of Compliance Consulting of Virginia (a.k.a the Compliance Consulting Company of Virginia), the campaign outfit that worked on Fred Thompson’s presidential campaign. Fred Thompson ran as a Republican, in case you forgot.
If you use the IRS political organization search function to look for other 527 organizations with a business address of P.O. Box 365, McLean, Virginia, here’s what you’ll find:
What’s Project Virginia? As they put it themselves:
Our goal in 2009 was to help ensure Republican control of Virginia’s House of Delegates and support the Republican candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. ProjectVirginia is an ongoing collaboration between candidates, citizens, and conservative organizations to implement the most effective innovations in local grassroots organizing, new media and social networking technologies. The 2009 Virginia campaigns were the first step in building a battle-tested foundation to assist state and federal GOP candidates nationwide in 2010.
And what about GOPAC? Again, let’s let GOPAC describe itself. Formed in 1979, GOPAC was:
…a new national organization dedicated exclusively to electing Republicans to state and local offices. Within its first decade, it grew to be one of the country’s largest and most influential partisan political action committees. The organization concentrated on making direct contributions to promising candidates in competitive state legislative and municipal elections nationwide. In a short period of time, GOPAC helped Republicans make meaningful progress….
Through countless campaign seminars, workbooks, audiotapes and years of grassroots organizing, GOPAC became the Republican Party’s preeminent education and training center….
Many political observers credited GOPAC with being a key catalyst of the Republican Revolution that stormed the nation in 1994, sweeping in the first GOP congress in four decades and leaving a record number of governorships and statehouses in Republican hands…. Following in the footsteps of these exceptional public servants, the Honorable Michael S. Steele took over as the Chairman of GOPAC. Steele was Chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland and Republican nominee for United States Senate in 2006 prior to taking over at GOPAC. He served as GOPAC Chairman from January 2007 – January 2009.
Michael Steele… I think I’ve heard that name somewhere.
The Tea Party PAC also lists a third officer: custodian Tim Beall. What other 527 organizations does Tim Beall act as custodian for?
GOPAC, GOPAC, GOPAC. Tim Beall is armpit-deep in GOPAC. If you do a whois search, you’ll even find that Tim Beall is the administrator for the GOPAC website, gopac.org. Tim Beall’s activity is not limited to GOPAC, mind you. Why, Tim Beall was also the Assistant Treasurer for the Bush-Cheney 2000 Recount Fund.
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P.S. If you think the GOP fingers sink uniquely into the organizational structure of the Tea Party Patriots organization, think again. The same outfit in McLean, Virginia is the business home of the Ohio Tea Party PAC, of all things. Isn’t that curious, too?
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P.P.S. A comment to this post questions whether, if a Republican and I both use H&R Block for tax preparation, I am a Republican. The analogy isn’t apt for three reasons:
1: H&R Block is a service used by millions for tax preparation. But other than these Tea Party Patriots PACs, the only 527 organizations serviced by Compliance Consulting Virginia are Republican Party organizing groups.
2. You can look up H&R Block in the Yellow Pages. Heck, H&R Block advertises. Compliance Consulting Virginia, on the other hand, is a ghost organization. It keeps its website, complianceconsultingva.com, offline. Try to search for “Compliance Consulting Virginia” and you’ll get nothing; search for “Compliance Consulting Company of Virginia” and you’ll only get the legal forms it’s required to file with the government. Like so many other DC-area firms specializing in campaign minutae, Compliance Consulting Virginia is off the radar and not for public consumption. So how do two “grassroots” leaders of Tea Party Patriots, hailing from California and Georgia, manage to hook up with this organization in Virginia?
3. The Compliance Consulting Company of Virginia is owned by Cabell Hobbs. Cabell Hobbs was the scheduler at the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Bush administration, working directly under Ken Mehlman. He also worked for the Republican National Committee website GOP.com recently enough to be listed on two business networking sites as a GOP.com employee. This outfit is not “H&R Block.” It is a political services firm set up to support the efforts of the Republican Party.
If you and I both use H&R Block to file our taxes, do we have a business relationship together? if we both hire the same lawyer, am i guilty if you are? If we both use ActBlue for fundraising are we a joint campaign? But hey, McLean is just down the street from Langley, so maybe the whole network is a CIA front run by Mr. Beall.
But this isn’t H&R Block.
If GOP political operations and I and nobody else have 527 organizations registered with this group, and if GOP political operations and I and nobody else use the same political custodian, that says something very different from you and I both using H&R Block.
To cite a more reasonable parallel, if I claim to be acting independently of the New Democratic Network but am exclusively employing aides that Simon Rosenberg and nobody else but me employs, then yeah, you can call me a fibber.
Who is Tim Beall, and why is he is custodian of all these PACs?
Swift Boat Tea Party!
In Alaska they could have an Iced Tea Party! For health-food fanatics it could be a Chamomile Tea Party, while in New Orleans they could start a chapter called the Jazz-man Tea Party, and Republican gardeners could belong to a Red Rose Tea Party!
Avid (and similarly wrong-headed) environmentalists may soon start a CAP-PAC (for the advancement of the bogus carbon cap and trade “solution”).
It is funny that Jenny Beth Martin was a Republican Strategist when she started working with Tea Party Patriots, and she has worked with the Republican Party for about 15 years.
Mark Meckler has been paid by the GOP Biz group:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/mark_meckler/
So I find it hard for the group to maintain it’s non partisan claims with these people at the helm.
Jim, a terrific proof-of-allegiance piece by you! Follow the money or the addy or BOTH!! LOL
I’m going to post this excellent blog by you on my blogsite http://thedavelevineshow.ning.com. I’ve not much from Tea Party Patriots. Did the infamous Amy Kremer jilt TPP? Or am I getting them confused with TPE?
Whatever, the issue is CREDIBILITY and the Truth. As far as I’m concerned, you and George here have proven what the Truth really is! God bless you both.
If There Is No Change, There Is No Hope
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have seen the “natural” disasters, the economy tanking, the lack of transparency, the push for a New World Order. It has not mattered, Republican or Democrat in office, “our” politicians are driving the U.S. into the ground. As the push for globalization continues, you can literally see the sovereignty of our great nation dissolving before your very eyes.
Can anyone reading this tell me truthfully that they feel the government is representing the American people with honesty, integrity or morals? Around the world the United States has made many enemies. People from other nations want to see the greatest nation in the world crumble. Why? Is the governmental system created by our forefathers really that bad or evil?
What the majority of the people fail to realize is that the system, if adhered to, is the best political system ever created. What our politicians have done with their power is against our laws. The U.S. Constitution has not been followed in American politics for decades. What others see as wrong is a direct result of a group of people with a hidden agenda to destroy this country and it’s sovereignty, melded into a one world government and financial system.
Citizens of America, we are at a crossroads and our country desperately needs our help. If we fail, it will be to the demise of the country our ancestors fought and died for. Democrats and Republicans alike have forgotten just who works for whom. If we are to restore our Republic back to its original form of government, we may just be able to declare America the land of the free once more.
Now many of you reading this may be saying “It’s too late, we no longer have a voice, we’ve let it go too far”. If this is your belief, I want to talk to you about a solution that we can all get involved in. We must be diligent, we can do this.
To put it simply, our government has been infiltrated. The U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence, as they stand at this very moment are dying. The political system however, does allow for us to vote. The problem is when you choose a side, you really aren’t choosing a side at all. Republican equals Democrat. When this fact has sunk in, please continue to read further. A little food for thought to help you along…….
If the most powerful government in the world (U.S.) wanted to achieve something, do you believe they would get it done? What would stop them? Let me give you a couple of examples using topics that most people are familiar with. First, let’s talk about education. If our government wanted to produce a system that allowed us to be competitive internationally, why haven’t they done so? If the United States government set their mind to securing our borders, what has gotten in their way? You see, there are hidden agendas everywhere within our political system. These agendas continually move us further and further away from the original intent and design of the system put forth by our founding fathers. In short, we do not need a new system. We need the old one back!
Government of any kind is made of only two things: People and words. Change them both and you have a new government, simple concept but very important. In this case, we don’t need to rack our brains as to what system we want here in America, we have the greatest system ever created at our fingertips. So close yet oh so far. If we all work together, maybe we can stretch far enough to reach out and grab it once more and never let it go again!
There is good news! A new political party has emerged on the scene. This Party knows about the hidden agendas of the New World Order. It knows our financial system is fiat, corrupt and we should have never let it come to be. This Party wants the United States of America to maintain her sovereignty! This Party does not represent the views of the Republicans or Democrats, they are Constitutionalists and have rose to the third largest political party in the country.
If we can have a government for the people, of the people and by the people as it should have always remained, then we’ve got a shot at giving our children and our grandchildren a future that offers them all a chance for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Party I wish to introduce to you is The Constitution Party. I encourage you to educate yourself on their political platform as well as the information provided below.
If after looking at their platform, you feel that there are items that you just don’t agree with, please remember one thing: This party represents the ONLY political view that includes the restoration of the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land. I ask that you focus your attention on what matters most, our sovereignty! “Our current politicians want to stay entangled with organizations such as the UN, WTO, IMF, CFR, Bilderberg Group, World Bank and many others. We need a grassroots movement like never before! We now have Czars in America! The dissolving of America as we know it, is well at hand. You have a voice, it needs to be heard with your vote. Truth and unity are on our side, we can fix our great nation, but only if we Stand United!!
For More Info Please Visit:
http://www.warnthepeople.org/96/post/2010/05/if-there-is-no-change-there-is-no-hope.html
The Constitution Party is hardly a new party. It’s been around for well over a decade. I encourage people to read the documents of the Constitution Party closely and with critical thinking faculties engaged.
It does not take long to tease out the rabidly right-wing Republican sympathies of the Tea Party Patriot web site. I argued politely and logically for the need to contain global warming, cut defense spending and rein in militias. All I received was a tide of abuse (most of it larded with obscenities and badly spelled to boot). I have little doubt that TPP is “astroturf” – a fake grassroots organization and a seditious one at that well.
Mark Meckler’s “troll hunters” have no interest in rational debate, they are only out to get more Republican voters by any means (which includes slurring opponents in a way that would be considered libellous in more civilized countries).
Ultimately, all we want to do is keep America strong, keep our liberty’s and Save The Republic.
Please join us! Be A Liberty Chick….Be A Liberty Dude….Be a Liberty Kid!
Be A Voice for Freedom!
the MOVEMENT is grassroots even if this org is not.
Even Tea Party Patriot’s associates are leaving in DROVES as we have been attacked ourselves BY Tea Party Patriots.
Read my blog and listen to Moore Liberty on blogtalkradio you’ll get it straight from those of us who have left.
We don’t like the GOP co-opting any more than anyone else does…and SOME of us are speaking out about it, and have been for MONTHS.
(find me on facebook)
More on Cabell Hobbs, the man who is servicing Tea Party Patriots. Now he’s also starting up Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty’s state PACS in New Hampshire and Iowa.
The hush-hush of politics is controlling a segment of people without those people recognizing they are being managed.
Campaign laws are a great example; politicians exempt the commercial press, because the 1st Amendment prohibits abridging their freedom of speech and the press. But those same laws regulate grass roots communications.
Thereby, Americans are robbed of fair elections.
Handing a megaphone to commercial media, themselves special interests dependent on the advertising dollars of other special interests, insure their monopoly in the market place of ideas. Muzzling the grassroots does not level the playing field or protect we the people. When soft money is restricted incumbents win. When grass roots can spend unlimited soft money challengers are more likely to win.
If the United States Supreme Court defined freedom of religion using the same logic that it has used to define a free press only the church or synagogue “as an institution” would enjoy freedom of religion, not its parishioners!
The Federal Campaign Law Press Exemption establishes a State approved corporate press:
2 USC 431 (9) (B) The term “expenditure” does not include – (i) any news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, unless such facilities are owned or controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate;
This law divides participation in America’s political process into two categories: The regulated majority, every living U.S. Citizen, candidate for office, political party and political organization and the unregulated commercial media.
This leaves the unrestricted institutional press in a unique position to decide what issues and candidates are important enough to discuss.
To restore equal protection under law, the language of 2 U.S.C. 431 (9) (B) (i) must be modified to restore the rights of flesh and blood citizens. I suggest the following changes: “The term expenditure does not include any news story, commentary, or editorial distributed by any citizen, citizens group, broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication.”