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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD— Extensions of Remarks E2019 HON December 31, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E2019 RICHARD ARMEY’S $8,000,000 Stephenson, 73, declined a request for an which a budget was being prepared in antici- GOLDEN PARACHUTE interview. Matt Kibbe, the group’s president, pation of a large influx of money, according and Adam Brandon, its senior vice president, to several employees who attended the re- declined to discuss the issue. treat. At the retreat, Stephenson dictated HON. BARNEY FRANK ‘‘I don’t comment on donors,’’ Brandon some of the terms of how the money would OF MASSACHUSETTS said. ‘‘He’s on our board, he’s a board mem- be spent, the employees said. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ber like anyone else. That’s it. I see him at ‘‘There is no doubt that Dick Stephenson Monday, December 31, 2012 board meetings.’’ arranged for that money to come to the Stephenson, a longtime but little-known super PAC,’’ said one person who attended Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, player in conservative causes, is a resident of the retreat. ‘‘I can assure you that everyone given the role that former Majority Leader Barrington, Ill., a northwest suburb of Chi- around the office knew about it.’’ Richard Armey has played in significantly in- cago known for its affluence and sprawling Among other things, Stephenson wanted a creasing the role in militant conservatives in horse estates such as his Tudor Oaks Farm. substantial sum spent in support of Rep. Joe He founded the Cancer Treatment Centers of Walsh (R-I11.), a tea party favorite and the Republican party, the article in the Wash- Stephenson’s local congressman, several who ington Post on December 25 is important in- America in 1988 following his mother’s death from bladder cancer, according to the for- attended the retreat recalled. Walsh gar- formation that all Members should know. profit company’s Web site and his public re- nered national headlines during the cam- [From The Washington Post, Dec. 25, 2012] marks. Stephenson also holds investments in paign when he questioned whether his oppo- FREEDOM WORKS TEA PARTY GROUP NEARLY a broad portfolio of other businesses, includ- nent, Tammy Duckworth, a former FALLS APART IN FIGHT BETWEEN OLD AND ing finance and real estate companies. Blackhawk helicopter pilot who lost both NEW GUARD Stephenson has a passion for libertarian legs in Iraq, was a ‘‘true hero.’’ Despite in- (By Amy Gardner) politics stretching back to the 1960s, when he ternal misgivings about the value of the in- vestment, FreedomWorks spent $1.7 million The day after Labor Day, just as campaign attended seminars featuring ‘‘Atlas Shrugged’’ author Ayn Rand and economist on ads supporting Walsh; he lost the race. season was entering its final frenzy, Two watchdog groups last week asked the FreedomWorks, the Washington-based tea Murray Rothbard, according to those who know him at FreedomWorks. Like Armey, Federal Election Commission and the Jus- party organization, went into free fall. tice Department to investigate the donations Richard K. Armey, the group’s chairman Stephenson was an early supporter of Citi- from the two Tennessee companies. The and a former House majority leader, walked zens for a Sound Economy, the conservative groups, Democracy 21 and the Campaign into the group’s Capitol Hill offices with his lobbying group founded by oil billionaires Legal Center, say the arrangement could vio- wife, Susan, and an aide holstering a hand- Charles and David Koch in 1984 that split late federal laws that prohibit attempting to gun at his waist. The aim was to seize con- into Freedom Works and Americans for Pros- hide the true source of a political contribu- trol of the group and expel Armey’s enemies: perity 20 years later. The Kochs, known for tion by giving it under another name. (Bran- The gun-wielding assistant escorted bankrolling a variety of conservative causes, don declined to comment on the complaints, FreedomWorks’ top two employees off the kept control of AFP, while Stephenson and but he said the group’s books were in order.) premises, while Armey suspended several Armey stayed with FreedomWorks. others who broke down in sobs at the news. FreedomWorks has been on a remarkable PARTNERSHIP UNRAVELS The coup lasted all of six days. By Sept. 10, run in recent election cycles, growing its an- For years, FreedomWorks was headed by Armey was gone—with a promise of $8 mil- nual budget from $7 million to $40 million in an unlikely duo: Armey, 72, the old-guard poi lion—and the five ousted employees were just a few years and helping lead the tea who wears a black cowboy hat even when back. The force behind their return was party movement against Obama’s agenda. he’s not on his Texas ranch, and Kibbe, 49, Richard J. Stephenson, a reclusive Illinois The group was among several that rose up who sports mutton-chop sideburns and has a millionaire who has exerted increasing con- last week in opposition to a failed proposal passion for the Grateful Dead. trol over one of Washington’s most influen- from House Speaker John A. Boehner (R– But the most important relationship ap- tial conservative grass-roots organizations. Ohio) to raise federal taxes on millionaires. pears to be the bond between Kibbe and Ste- Stephenson, the founder of the for-profit The group played a crucial role in ushering phenson, who bridged their age gap through Cancer Treatment Centers of America and a a wave of tea party candidates into office in shared libertarian views and Kibbe’s battle director on the Freedom Works board, agreed recent years, staging rallies, hawking books with testicular cancer a decade ago, Armey to commit $400,000 per year over 20 years in and videos, and organizing media appear- and others said. They said Kibbe, after being exchange for Armey’s agreement to leave the ances with conservative personalities such as given a terminal diagnosis, was encouraged group. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. by Stephenson to get treatment at his can- The episode illustrates the growing role of ‘‘I’ve enjoyed my association with cer clinics; more than a decade later, they wealthy donors in swaying the direction of FreedomWorks,’’ said Sen. Mike Lee (R– said, he is cancer-free. FreedomWorks and other political groups, Utah), who defeated incumbent Bob Bennett Until this year, the partnership between which increasingly rely on unlimited con- with help from the group. ‘‘Matt Kibbe and Kibbe and Armey worked well. Armey’s re- tributions from corporations and financiers Dick Armey endorsed me early in my can- nown as a former House member drew media for their financial livelihood. Such gifts are didacy for the U.S. Senate, and they were a attention and crowds of conservative activ- often sent through corporate shells or non- big help to me.’’ ists—most of them old enough to remember profit groups that do not have to disclose Despite such testimonials, FreedomWorks Armey’s role in the Republican revolution in their donors, making it impossible for the has struggled with accusations that it is an Congress in 1994. And Kibbe’s youthful intel- public to know who is funding them. ‘‘astro-turfer’’—a national organization of lectualism drew a new generation of liber- In the weeks before the election, more big-money donors that swept in to lay claim tarian soldiers into the FreedomWorks fold. than $12 million in donations was funneled to an independent movement. In 2010, the two co-wrote a book, ‘‘Give Us through two Tennessee corporations to the According to public records, Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto,’’ that be- FreedomWorks super PAC after negotiations FreedomWorks received more than $12 mil- came a New York Times bestseller and a suc- with Stephenson over a preelection gift of lion before the election from two corpora- cessful marketing tool for FreedomWorks, the same size, according to three current and tions based in Knoxville, Tenn.: Specialty In- which collected the book’s proceeds and used former employees with knowledge of the ar- vestments Group and Kingston Pike Devel- it to attract donations. rangement. The origin of the money has not opment. The firms were established within a The partnership came to a crashing end previously been reported. day of each other by William S. Rose III, a when Armey marched into FreedomWorks’s These and other new details about the local bankruptcy lawyer. office Sept. 4 with his wife, Susan, executive near-meltdown at FreedomWorks were Rose, who could not be reached for com- assistant Jean Campbell and the unidentified gleaned from interviews with two dozen cur- ment, has said publicly he would not answer man with the gun at his waist—who prompt- rent and past associates, most of whom questions about the donations. But accord- ly escorted Kibbe and Brandon out of the spoke on the condition of anonymity in ing to three current and former building. order to talk freely. FreedomWorks employees with knowledge of ‘‘This was two weeks after there had been The disarray comes as the conservative the donations, the money originated with a shooting at the Family Research Council,’’ movement is struggling to find its way after Stephenson and his family, who arranged for said one junior staff member who spoke on the November elections, which brought a the contributions from the Tennessee firms the condition of anonymity because he was second term for President Obama and Demo- to the super PAC. not authorized to talk to the media. ‘‘So cratic gains in the House and Senate. Armey Brandon, FreedomWorks’ executive vice when a man with a gun who didn’t identify said in an interview that the near-meltdown president, told colleagues starting in August himself to me or other people on staff, and a at his former group has damaged the con- that Stephenson would be giving between $10 woman I’d never seen before said there was servative cause.
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