Beware Fake Tea Party Groups: Anatomy of a Scam

It’s election time, and once again we find it necessary to warn you about where you send your money.

Since the teaparty movement was formed in 2007, we never could have imagined to what extent some GOP consultants and fundraising gurus would hijack the name to use it as a fundraising ploy for the Republican Party (as if that were ever part of our mission — it was not). But that is exactly what happened in 2009, and it seems they haven’t stopped. We saw this in 2012 when one of these groups, which you never hear about except at election time, and which is barely ever seen working for issues we actually care about, descended upon NH to promote Republicans that did not fit with tea party ‘values’ such as Mitt Romney and Scott Brown.

Unfortunately, these groups, based in DC and run by establishment GOP lawyers, continue to scam the public.

Here is a perfect recent example from NRO…

“…The “Tea Party Leadership Fund”, is a group that gave $2,000 to Trey Gowdy. But “The Tea Party Leadership Fund” took in $598,687 last year.”

So, where did the rest go?

Many so-called “tea party” groups run by Washington consultants raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from grassroots conservatives and basically pocket all the money themselves for “fees”. This is unquestionably a ripoff to scam the conservative base. Hucksters claiming to be “teaparty” while defrauding you and hurting the conservative cause do not deserve your money.

If anyone really wants to help a candidate, they should donate directly to that candidate.

Bottom line is, be VERY wary of groups you never hear from except at election time, especially groups that ask for money but then cannot say where the rest of it went. See who founded these organizations, and what they claim to be doing. Remember, the tea party movement is a LIBERTY movement, not a PAC, and not an adjunct of the GOP or any other party for that matter. It certainly does not exist to shore up the very people and ideas it formed against in 2007.