The TEA Party concept continues to be exploited for fund-raising and political advantage …
The TEA Party was a loosely-knit group of ordinary citizens; republicans, democrats, and independents that promoted the concept of a smaller government, less taxes, less regulation, and less corruption.Not necessarily a right-wing or conservative group, but a group that would support politicians and legislations that furthered its agenda. Designed to be leaderless, the TEA Party could not be attacked using conventional demonization and denunciation because it was just people, like you and me, coming together to offer our vote and our money to politicians and causes that met with our approval.
The TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party was never meant to be an organized political party with the self-serving infrastructure and bureaucracy that seems to serve itself, aggregating funds and political influence, while it pumps out conservative themes.
But that is just what happened. Corrupt politicians, political fund-raisers, and opportunists took to the internet and airwaves to create specific organizations and engage in traditional fundraising. All while using the standard political tactics of “us versus them” pitches or breathless pleas for money – often citing the dire consequences of not donating.
Here is one such personalized e-mail pitch I just received with the subject line: “Our Movement Will Die.” Of course, the e-mail was addressed to my blog e-mail, an address that is not used for any political activities.
From “The Tea Party.net” …
Dear Patriot, I'm going to lay it out honestly for you, the Tea Party is as close as we've ever been to being permanently exiled to the political wilderness. We've always believed that no matter how they lied about us, smeared our leaders, or sabotaged our efforts, our righteous mission would overcome. We kept working and winning and the movement kept growing. We continue to secure important policy and electoral victories that most people never hear about. We've been forced to drag spineless Republican "leadership" kicking and screaming into every confrontation with the Obama administration. Without the Tea Party movement Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton, Lois Lerner, and the rest of this dangerous administration would have never even faced a challenge on the disaster known as Obamacare. I'm not embarrassed to admit that sometimes when I think about our opponents unlimited cash supply, control of the instruments of authority, and domination of the media I get overwhelmed. It's at those times I think about my children and how much worse it will be for them, unless we fight. For inspiration imagine how distressing it must have been for the generations that fought off the English empire, the robber barons, Hitler and half the world. We need to raise what sounds like a lot of money this week, $100,000. Our opponents happily waste that kind of campaign money daily, it's easy because it's our money! Even their campaign money is our money because it was bought with the distribution of our tax dollars. We are not so fortunate, we have to stretch every penny and even though this email will reach nearly a million people, it's tough times for 'We The People'. Whatever you can give, we need. We are setting up a special package for everyone who donates at least $20. It will be filled with patriotic and Tea Party gear. We have not finalized the details just yet but give at least $20 and you'll get some awesome gear and we'll get the resources we so desperately need. Thank you,
Todd Cefaratti
Freedom Organizer |
So who is this “Freedom Organizer,” a title that I have never seen used before?
Todd Cefaratti: Freedom Organizer
A graduate of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of California Irvine (UCI) and (HBS) Harvard Business School Executive Program. Todd Cefaratti holds degrees in economics, marketing and digital marketing. Todd is one of the top internet marketing experts in his field. Todd is also the founder of the nonprofit organization TheTeaParty.net which began in 2009 at the height of the Tea Party movement and today is recognized as one of the top national Tea Party organizations in the movement.
The organization is still growing at over a 1000 new patriots every day and going strong with over 3,000,000 loyal active members. Todd is also the CEO of a major marketing consulting and fundraising organization and the Editor of the Tea Party News Network. In his spare time, Todd is active with his wife and two daughters in their Christian church and Christian school that both daughters attend. Source: Todd Cefaratti: Freedom Organizer - The Tea Party
Certainly this can’t be THE tea party, so who or what is this?
I can’t find any proof that this is one of the top national Tea Party organizations in the movement. Here are thetop organizations that I found …
501(c)(4) non-profit organizations:
- Tea Party Patriots, an organization with more than 1,000 affiliated groups across the nation that proclaims itself to be the "Official Home of the Tea Party Movement".
- Americans for Prosperity, an organization founded by David H. Koch in 2003, and led by Tim Phillips. The group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates and led protests against health care reform in 2009.
- FreedomWorks, an organization led by Matt Kibbe. Like Americans for Prosperity, the group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates. It makes local and national candidate endorsements.
- Tea Party Express, a national bus tour run by Our Country Deserves Better PAC, itself a conservative political action committee created by Sacramento-based Republican consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates.
From their TheTeaParty.net website …
- TheTeaParty.net is a division of Stop This Insanity, Inc. and is a national non-profit 501 (c)(4) organization created in 2009 for the education and advancement of the constitutional conservative values of the Tea Party Movement.
- First, let us explain what the Tea Party Movement actually is. There is no single national “TEA PARTY” organization, so do not let anyone tell you otherwise. This is a truly grassroots movement embracing many issues and many names: TEA, Patriot, Liberty, Conservative. There are several thousand, completely independent groups across the Nation fighting in their own way to restore our America before it is too late.
- We have contributed or sponsored other Tea Party, conservative and charitable non-profit organizations and events, including: Campaign to Defeat Obama, Wounded Warrior Project, Contract From America Org, Patriot Action Network. ACU and CPAC, Tea Party Express National Bus Tours, and many others.
Looks like the standard disclaimers needed for legal purposes.
So who are these people and what are others saying?
Arizona-based website took nearly $500,000 in donations but didn’t turn out support for tea party or candidates
A website run out of Arizona, ostensibly to support the so-called tea party movement, is under scrutiny after a local news organization dug into their finances and ownership, only to find what some may characterize as a remarkable scam.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) disclosure forms, JoinTheTeaParty.us took in approximately $469,000 in donations this year and spent roughly half its budget on marketing, with the rest going to distinctly non-political avenues. In fact, according to CBS 5 in Phoenix, there’s no evidence the group spent so much as a dime to promote tea party candidates or related events.
FEC forms pulled by CBS affiliate show the group spent nearly $200,000 on search engine optimization and Google sponsorship, along with Facebook ads promoting their website. Submitting a Google search for “tea party” returned with the site atop the list of results.
They even advertised the site on Craigslist, with an impassioned appeal to “patriots” who may be sympathetic to conservative causes. Ironically enough, the ad states numerous times that this group in particular is a “marketing campaign” with a fundraising goal of $500,000 per week.
The domain is owned by Todd Cefaratti, an Arizona businessman with a background in data collection. His other business specializes in mining contact information and reselling the leads to clients in the reverse mortgage industry.“Thousands” of donors have given their personal contact information and credit card numbers to the tea party site, according to CBS.
In spite of the obvious political implications of calling a group part of the tea party, which is not an official organization or political party, Cefaratti’s website is run by “Stop This Insanity, Inc.,” a 501(c)4 organization — meaning, they are not a solely political organization and they’re exempt from federal income taxes. <Source>
Whoops …
There's Money to Be Made in Milking the Tea Party, 'Natch!
Whether you call him a marketing guru, a hotshot data-miner, a crass opportunist, a reverse mortgage huckster, or a Tea Party entrepreneurial role model, Todd Cefaratti isn't letting any grass grow under his feet. Now that the government shutdown is history (at least temporarily), Cefaratti has moved on to greener pastures; telling supporters that the Democratic Party has "declared all–out war on the Tea Party."
Cefaratti is the editor of, and writer for an entity called the Tea Party News Network (TPNN). He is also the founder of the nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization TheTeaParty.net, a project of Stop This Insanity, Inc.
Various bios point out that Ceferatti is "a former upper management and marketing executive with firms such as National City (now PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.), CTX Mortgage Co., and Bank of America Corporation, ... [and] President and CEO of reverse mortgage lead provider Glengary Inc.
Earlier this year, the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights' Leonard Zeskind and Devin Burghart reported that TeaParty.net "is largely a list-building money-generating machine. Cefaratti has a background in data harvesting, mining contact information and then reselling the leads to clients in the reverse mortgage industry.
"... Stop This Insanity, Inc., was founded as a political action committee in Arizona in early 2010 by Cefaratti and Ron Dove, who became TheTeaParty.net's treasurer and human resources manager. The PAC was terminated in November 2010, while it was in the process of losing a lawsuit with the Federal Election Commission. It also developed a bad reputation with other Tea Party groups after raising money ($469,000 between January and October 2010), and then not funding rallies or candidates. <Source>
Bottom line …
From what I have read, the organization that pitched me appears to be nothing more than a scam, bring disrepute to the Tea Party Movement and conservatives who are fighting for smaller government, lower taxes, less regulation and less political corruption.
Ironically, the very organization pursuing this agenda appears to be corrupt itself.
The best advice I can give comes from the Better Business Bureau …”Investigate BEFORE you Invest.”
Advice for those who send blind political pitches for funds to OneCitizenSpeaking … it can blow up in your face should your political appeal appear to be tainted with commercialism or corruption.
-- steve
Reference Links…
Cefaratti, who splits his time between his marketing consulting business and a second company that specializes in connecting loan officers with seniors interested in reverse mortgages, set up TheTeaParty.net last year as the tea party movement started to galvanize voters and dollars around “outsider” Republican candidates.
At the same time, he established a political action committee, called Stop This Insanity, which raised nearly $500,000 in the months leading up to the 2010 midterm elections. From March to October 2010, the committee spent just less than half that. Nearly all of its expenditures went to advertising services, airfare, lodging and promotional paraphernalia such as buttons and T-shirts, according to federal records.
The group has left very little trail since it was founded last spring, organizing few, if any, events. Federal records show no donations to candidates in the last election cycle.
But come Election Day, lawyers for TheTeaParty.net notified the Federal Election Commission that it was dissolving the PAC arm of its operation. When asked what had become of the $258,000 remaining in the committee’s account, the group’s spokeswoman said she didn’t know.
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