Tea partiers involved in IRS scandal have ties to Koch brothers Americans for Prosperity

10 out of 11 Tea Party spokespeople quoted in major news outlets regarding the IRS scandal have ties to the Koch funded Americans for Prosperity.

The Internal Revenue Service, not the most popular government agency to begin with, has been in the midst of a scatological squall for the past 3 weeks over their treatment of tea party groups. According to an agency spokesperson, organizations garnered additional scrutiny of their applications for non-profit status for having Tea Party, Patriot, or 9/12 in the application materials. Non-profit status is granted by the IRS for social welfare organizations and federal law puts legal limits to the amount of overtly political things you can do if you are applying to be a non-profit, and thus tax-exempt.

In the coverage of this story, now a scandal, there are a couple of important facts that some of the reporting has missed.

First is the fact that the tea party is a creation of enterprising political and public relations professionals, constructed to accomplish a political purpose. A study published in the Tobacco Control Journal actually traced the origins of the tea party to free-market groups founded by tobacco corporations and the oil industry billionaires David and Charles Koch.

According to researchers at UC San Francisco:

Rather than being a grassroots movement that spontaneously developed in 2009, the Tea Party organizations have had connections to the tobacco companies since the 1980s. The cigarette companies funded and worked through Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), the predecessor of Tea Party organizations, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, to accomplish their economic and political agenda.

Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), was founded in 1984 by the Koch brothers.

There is even a tea party website registered to a Koch group in 2005, long before the conservative outcry we now know as the tea party began.

The second thing to keep in mind is that the tea party is still controlled by enterprising political and public relations professionals, funded by the David and Charles Koch. In coverage of the IRS scandal, there were 11 people who were involved in tea party groups quoted about IRS scrutiny. Of those 11, 10 have substantial ties to Americans for Prosperity (AFP). As you can see from the chart above, AFP (also founded and funded by the Kochs), is the direct descendent of CSE – one of the groups who registered a tea party site in 2005. Of those 10 with ties to AFP, 2 actually work for the organization currently. All 10 have received aid from AFP which included help with messaging and communication.

The tea party groups that were scrutinized by the IRS are not just separate grassroots citizen groups unfairly accused of political shenanigans, as the Koch associated spokespeople in the media would have you believe. They are one part of a wider political strategy, funded and managed by a very wealthy few. they have uniform and coordinated messages, such as attacking climate science and opposing environmental regulations.

As this IRS scandal progresses, it is important to keep in mind that many of the tea party groups in question deserve to have their non-profit, tax-exempt status questioned. The New York Times has already found that several tea party groups investigated by the IRS were engaged in activities that are illegal for tax exempt groups.

For the record, Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network experienced expensive and debilitating audits by the IRS during George W Bushs presidency. Those audits were most likely at the behest of an Exxon funded front group.

Tea Party Spokespeople with ties to Americans For Prosperity (AFP)

Tom Zawistowski: quoted in the Wall Street Journal and other sources

• AFP funded his tea party conference

Margie Dresher: Quoted by ABC news

• Currently works for AFP

Toby Marie Walker: Quoted by Business Insider

• earned the “Watchdog of the Month” award in March and the Tea Party Leader of the Year -2010 from Americans for Prosperity

Jennifer Stefano: Quoted by ABC news

• currently works for Americans for Prosperity as state director of Americans for Prosperity – Pennsylvania

Carol Waddell: Quoted by ABC news

 

• AFP trained Waddell and her Waco tea party group
• AFP coordinated and helped fund the “Waco Tea Partys Grassroots- Campaign, Leadership & Activist Survival School”
• Waddell and the Waco tea party joined tax day protest organized by AFP:

Tim Savaglio: Quoted by the Associated Press

 

• AFP trained Savaglio and his tea party group in tactics and messaging

Jaime Radtke: Quoted in ABQ Journal, Newsday

 

• Radke was a key speaker at the “Smart Girl Summit”, funded by AFP
• Radke, who is running for state senate in Virginia, has an “alliance” with AFP

Larry Norvig: Quoted by CNN

 

• Norvig’s tea party group is part of AFP campaigns
• Norvig’s tea party group in Virginia runs AFP funded campaigns and displays AFP messaging prominently on their website

Tim Curtis: Quoted by CNN

 

• Curtis is a speaker at AFP events

Susan McLaughlin: Quoted in Reuters

 

• AFP ran tactics and messaging strategy training for Mclaughlin’s group in Liberty Township, Ohio.
• McLaughlin served on the Romney campaign’s Conservative Leadership Coalition with representatives from AFP

Jay Devereaux: Quoted by Fox News

• The only tea party spokesman quoted in the media with no obvious ties to AFP