The Money behind an Anti-Tea Party Hatchet Job

by Ivan Osorio on January 29, 2010 · 3 comments

in Labor, Politics as Usual

My colleague Lee Doren uncovers the money behind an online hatchet job on the tea party protests:

I just came across a new website titled: http://www.TheTeaPartyIsOver.org
It is paid for by the American Public Policy Committee. Well, according toopensecrets.org, the two donors for American Public Policy Committee this year are Patriot Majority and Patriot Majority West.
However, according to opensecrets.org, the 2nd largest contributor in 2008 to Patriot Majority was SEIU and other top Unions around America. I imagine the diversion of Union money gets much deeper than this.

Here’s some more on these groups. Patriot Majority founder Craig Varoga is a Democratic political strategist who once worked for former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack’s short-lived presidential campaign, and now runs a consultancy called Independent Strategies. His consulting partner, George Rakis, is a former political director of the Democratic Governors Association, which, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, was the largest single contributor to the American Public Policy Committee during the 2008 election cycle.

UPDATE: It’s worth nothing that the single biggest donor to Patriot Majority, by far, is the nation’s largest government employee union, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which gave the group $5.8 million in the 2008 election cycle. Government employee unions, as would be expected, have a vested interest in promoting the growth of government.

For more on public sector unions, see here and here.

Tagged as: Craig Varoga, Democratic Governors Association, George Rakis, organized labor, SEIU, unions

{ 3 comments }

clay barham January 30, 2010 at 7:23 am: Tea Party tradition is as old as America. We started with individual self-interests as most important, though rejected by Obama, and close self-government as a result. Government was no more than a day's horseback ride, usually counties, subject to voter influence, town hall meetings, even vigilantes if things got oppressive, so today's Tea Parties are on the tradition track. Let's hope it doesn't get Obamanized into illegal. Claysamerica.com
Salverda February 1, 2010 at 5:50 am: It is well to keep in mind why the Tea Partyers came into being. Tea Partyers want an individuals' right to free speech restored to them. We want "We the People" to be EXCLUSIVELY represented in congress. Naturaly "groups" such as unions oppose them. The Republicans are little better than the democrats in this regard for they too are bought and paid for, albeit by a different set of lobby groups (they like the term PACs), and that is the problem! Nobody represents people. We have got to restrict so called "free speech" (that is, the ability to bribe politicians with campaign contributions) to actual individual human speakers only. Not to Things such as groups!
Linda February 13, 2010 at 7:27 pm: He was also the Communications Director for Harry Reid…
Now it looks like the Democrats are attacking the nonpartisan Tea Partiers.