FreedomWorks' Internal Documents Leak, Show Tea Party Group's Reliance On Wealthy Donors

Leaked Docs Blow Lid Off Tea Party Group's Grassroots Image
PHOENIX, AZ - OCTOBER 22: A vendor sells flags during a rally for the Tea Party Express national tour October 22, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. The tour, part of an initiative to get conservatives elected to the House and Senate, will move across country and conclude on November 1, 2010 in Concord, New Hampshire the day before the contentious mid-term elections. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - OCTOBER 22: A vendor sells flags during a rally for the Tea Party Express national tour October 22, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona. The tour, part of an initiative to get conservatives elected to the House and Senate, will move across country and conclude on November 1, 2010 in Concord, New Hampshire the day before the contentious mid-term elections. (Photo by Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

FreedomWorks, the national conservative group that helped launch the tea party movement, sells itself as a genuine grassroots operation, and for years, it has battled accusations of "astroturfing"--posing as a populist organization while doing the bidding of big-money donors. Yet internal documents obtained by Mother Jones show that FreedomWorks has indeed become dependent on wealthy individual donors to finance its growing operation.

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