Astroturfing the NC General Assembly

Corporate proxies calling themselves the Tea Party stalk the halls of government:

Dozens of people wearing "FreedomWorks Override the Veto!" t-shirts and stickers descended on legislative offices this morning to try to convince conservative House Democrats to side with Republicans to override Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of the health care bill.

"We are the conscience of North Carolina," said Bobby Pittman of Wilson, who wore an orange Tea Party shirt. "We can't afford the health care bill."

But if you want to donate to "the conscience of North Carolina", you have to make out the check to a Foundation with an Arlington, VA national office:

Please make make your tax-deductable donations out to Americans for Prosperity Foundation

And about those FreedomWorks t-shirts:

2005 asbestos hidden conflict of interest
In early 2005, "Radio listeners in 15 states in recent weeks ... heard a broadcast appeal from former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) asking them to help scuttle a bill designed to contain asbestos litigation," reported Roll Call. "But at no time in the ad - made in his capacity as co-chairman of FreedomWorks, a conservative grass-roots network - does Armey disclose that he is also working as a lobbyist for Equitas, a British insurer that has lobbied to thwart the asbestos trust fund legislation." Armey was a registered lobbyist for Equitas, as part of his work at the DLA Piper firm. Equitas "directed $920,000 of the $1.7 million it spent on outside lobbying help last year [in 2004] to DLA Piper." [23]

2004 - Non-profit for hire?
"Speaking as the co-chairman of FreedomWorks" on CNBC in December 2004, Armey "spoke glowingly of 'Rx Outreach,' a national mail order program for low-income people that had just been launched by Express Scripts Inc., a pharmacy benefit management firm based in Maryland Heights, Mo." At the time, FreedomWorks "had been working with Express Scripts' public relations firm, and a week later issued a news release praising Rx Outreach. Now, Express Scripts says it plans to donate money to Armey's group, though it won't say how much or when."[24]

"Critics say the arrangement could call into question FreedomWorks' tax-exempt status because it appears that the group was a 'mouthpiece' for hire," wrote the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which noted that assertion was "sharply disputed by FreedomWorks." Bill Allison of the Center for Public Integrity said, "It's rare to see someone pushing a company this directly. It does look like it's more of a commercial for this company than a discussion of policy." Law professor Frances Hill noted that "corporate contributions to nonprofits are not supposed to benefit the donor." Hill added, "What it begins to look like is that the organization is operating for the private benefit of the company."[24]

Whether they know it or not, most of these Tea Party folks are unregistered, unpaid lobbyists for corporations that have figured out a much cheaper way to subvert the public interest.