Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
A major piece of the "Kochtopus" appears to be unraveling today. The Dick Armey of teabaggers at FreedomWorks has lost its general. Former Rep. Dick Armey quits FreedomWorks:
Former congressman Dick Armey has quit FreedomWorks, the conservative group he helped bring to national tea party prominence.
[A former House majority leader who represented Texas from 1985 to 2003,
Armey started his post-congressional career at the anti-regulation
Citizens for a Sound Economy. When the Koch-backed group split in 2004,
he took over FreedomWorks. (The other offshoot is Americans for Prosperity, which David Koch continued to lead.)]
[In 2009, FreedomWorks rode the tea party wave to national clout, building a grassroots network (more like an Astroturf campaign) to train conservative activists around the country.]
Armey confirms that he wrote a letter to FreedomWorks President Matt
Kibbe on Nov. 30, resigning from the group, as first reported by Mother Jones. He told the Post that he does not know who leaked his resignation letter.
“We accepted his letter of resignation and we wish him well,” FreedomWorks press secretary Jackie Bodnar said.
Max Pappas, the group’s former vice president for public policy and government affairs, has also left, along with campaign director Brendan Steinhauser, who traveled the country training activists for the group.
“As I resign from all board positions and duties, please see below a
list of dispositions on outstanding issues: I expect to be fully
compensated through the expiration date (December 31, 2012) of my
current consulting contract with FreedomWorks,” he wrote. “Henceforth
FreedomWorks shall be prohibited from using my name, image, or signature
in any way or for any purpose without my written permission or in the
event of my death, without my heirs written permission.”
He asked for his name, image, and signature to be removed from all
FreedomWorks materials — “letters, print media, postings, web sites,
videos, testimonials, endorsements, fund raising materials, and social
media.”
Armey also barred the group from using ”Hitting the Ground Running,” a guide he wrote for House freshmen.
* * *
“The top management team of FreedomWorks was taking a direction I
thought was unproductive, and I thought it was time to move on with my
life,” Armey told Mother Jones. “At this point, I don’t want to get into
the details. I just want to go on with my life.”
Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of the Tea Party.