The Armey of Dick is marching away from FreedomWorks for a mere $8 million. People power!
Rachel Maddow:
“Dick Armey agreed to quit freedom works in exchange for — $8 million. Holy grassroots, Batman! It was worth $8 million to FreedomWorks to make Dick Armey go away.”
“For Mr. Armey’s part he says that, really, his departure from FreedomWorks was just a matter of principle. That was the quote from him. “My differences with FreedomWorks are a matter of principle.” Which means on the $8 million check that you write to me, please put “principle” in the memo line. Because that’s why I’m leaving. Principle.”
“Why would anybody think the tea party movement is in disarray…”
Why Dick Armey resigned from his tea party organization
WASHINGTON — Dick Armey’s resignation as chairman of FreedomWorks follows months of turmoil, accusations of unethical behavior, top officials being put on administrative leave and a wave of staff departures inside the tea party-affiliated organization.
Multiple sources inside FreedomWorks told The Daily Caller that Armey’s resignation — made public this week but in the works for months — came about after the former House Majority Leader became angry with how FreedomWorks CEO and president Matt Kibbe was operating the organization.
“We had serious differences of opinion about the process of how you do business, and I wanted to move on,” Armey told TheDC in a Tuesday phone interview.
“The tension between Armey and Kibbe boiled over in August, according to sources, when Armey found out about the details surrounding Kibbe’s new book, “Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government’s Stranglehold on America.”
Armey, who in September accepted a $8 million consulting contract in return for leaving FreedomWorks after the election, was outraged that Kibbe — and not FreedomWorks — would earn money from the book. The royalties from a previous book co-authored by Kibbe and Armey went directly to the organization.
Despite a request from Kibbe, Armey refused to sign a document for the book deal. In September, Kibbe and Adam Brandon, a top official who helped Kibbe secure the book deal, were temporarily put on administrative leave as the organization’s board of trustees looked into the matter and hoped to keep it quiet before the elections, sources said.
Armey wasn’t the only one at FreedomWorks uncomfortable with Kibbe’s actions. Some questioned why Kibbe was on a book tour ahead of the election instead of devoting resources to the election.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/05/why-dick-armey-resigned-from-his-tea-party-organization/#ixzz2EKJCO3hX