Yesterday, we saw that out of the 49 PACs and Section 527 organizations registered with the FEC and IRS and including the name of “Tea Party,” only 1 had gathered enough contributions of money or in-kind services to take any significant action in electoral politics or policy debates. Although these small groups may be the face of the “grassroots” Tea Party, they can’t be the source of the sorts of highly-publicized and coordinated activities you see reported on by CNN or FOX News. Unless they’re filing false reports, these 48 small groups just haven’t accumulated the funds or the in-kind volunteering needed to pull such events off.
Surely there must be something more. There is.
Search the Federal Election Commission PAC database not for “Tea Party” but for “teaparty” and you’ll find a reference to a PAC entitled “OUR COUNTRY DESERVES BETTER PAC – TEAPARTYEXPRESS.ORG.” Tea Party Express is not a grassroots “Tea Party” organization started up organically by ordinary citizens who decided they’d had enough. Tea Party Express is a Republican Party operation started up in GOP consultancy shop that openly declared its partisan Republican basis before it changed its name to use the words “Tea Party” and hitch its wagon to the latest meme.
According to FEC records, the Republican Party’s Tea Party Express PAC has raised $4.8 million so far in the 2009-2010 election cycle. Let’s put that in context, comparing the receipts of the GOP Tea Party Express to the receipts of the 15 “Tea Party” PACs, of the Cincinnati Tea Party Section 527 organization that has managed to raise six figures, and of the other 34 Section 527 organizations identifying themselves as “Tea Party” groups:
The GOP’s operation dwarfs all others.
