It’s been a few weeks since David Corn first reported on the behind-the-scenes drama at FreedomWorks, a powerful and well-funded right-wing organization, including the ouster of Dick Armey, who departed with an $8 million payout. We’ve since learned that allegations of wrongdoing and legal threats have intensified, and Corn obtained a memo from Matt Kibbe, president of the group, accusing board members of mounting a “hostile takeover.”
But to appreciate just how out of control things have become at the Tea Party group, take a look at this remarkable piece from Amy Gardner.
The day after Labor Day, just as campaign season was entering its final frenzy, FreedomWorks, the Washington-based tea party organization, went into free fall.
Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman and a former House majority leader, walked into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a handgun at his waist. The aim was to seize control of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: The gun-wielding assistant escorted FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the premises, while Armey suspended several others who broke down in sobs at the news.
The coup lasted all of six days. By Sept. 10, Armey was gone — with a promise of $8 million — and the five ousted employees were back.
Like Josh Marshall, I noticed some chatter overnight about Dick Armey leading an “armed coup” at FreedomWorks, but it never occurred to me that the phrase was being used literally.
But it was. In early September, Armey marched into FreedomWorks’s office with his wife, his executive assistant, and an unidentified man with a gun. Matt Kibbe, the group’s president, and Adam Brandon, its senior vice president, were “promptly escorted” out of the building.
“This was two weeks after there had been a shooting at the Family Research Council,” a junior staff member told the Washington Post. “So when a man with a gun who didn’t identify himself to me or other people on staff, and a woman I’d never seen before said there was an announcement, my first gut was, ‘Is FreedomWorks in danger?’ It was bizarre.’ ”









