Talk:Tea Party movement funding

Request to correct faulty information

I would like to point out an error in this article and propose one of two solutions for dealing with it. Specifically, I refer to this paragraph:

In an April 9, 2009 article on ThinkProgress.org, Lee Fang reports that the principal organizers of the Tea Party movement are Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works, two "lobbyist-run think tanks" that are "well funded" and that provide the logistics and organizing for the Tea Party movement from coast to coast. Media Matters reported that FreedomWorks receives substantial funding from David Koch of Koch Industries, the largest privately-held energy company in the country, and the conservative Koch Family Foundations, which make substantial annual donations to conservative organizations, including FreedomWorks (and its predecessor, Citizens for a Sound Economy) as well as other conservative think tanks advocacy groups, etc. Media Matters reports that the Koch family has given more than $12 million to CSE/FreedomWorks between 1985 and 2002.

A closer look at the sources reveals that neither ThinkProgress nor Media Matters actually says that FreedomWorks currently receives money from any Koch entity. Meanwhile, there is recent, on-the-record reporting by the Washington Post to indicate that it specifically is not true.

For instance, the ThinkProgress post included actually does not say that FreedomWorks receives Koch money at all, though it correctly notes that Americans for Prosperity does. And Media Matters actually includes a clarification note to say that the data they are working from combines FreedomWorks data with CSE, noting that FreedomWorks is one of two organizations that resulted from the CSE split (AFP being the other).

Meanwhile, an April post by Dave Weigel, then with the Washington Post, includes a statement from Koch spokesperson Missy Cohlmia stating that Koch has "no ties to" and has "never given money to" FreedomWorks. It also includes this reporting by Weigel:

I spoke to Dick Armey of FreedomWorks before he took the stage at Thursday's Tea Party Express rally in downtown Washington, and he was happy that Koch was officially distancing itself from his group -- which it has never funded.

"I'm glad to have that confusion cleared up," said Armey. "Too many people have suffered under the false impression that we're funded by the Kochs. The fact of the matter is, there is a substantial difference in who we are and what we do."

Given these facts, I see two possible remedies. One is simply to leave the paragraph intact, but add the denials from Cohlmia and Armey. The second remedy is to eliminate claims of Koch funding FreedomWorks from this paragraph. Considering that Media Matters and ThinkProgress never specifically claim that Koch currently funds FreedomWorks, this is not a true dispute of facts but a case where Koch and FreedomWorks have, separately, sought to correct a misconception. Therefore, I believe the latter would be the most in keeping with SourceWatch's standard of "fair and accurate, and documented."

Because I write here today as a respresentative of Koch Industries, I am disinclined to implement a solution on my own. I'm confident that the material in this section is factually incorrect and should be corrected but, knowing SourceWatch's mission, I want to respect that and act with caution. Therefore I invite anyone who happens to come across this note to please update the page as they see fit. Thank you. NMS Bill 15:07, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Good morning, as a fellow representative of Koch Industries (and colleague of NMS Bill) I would like to point out that the article is still incorrect.The factual information is as follows: Citizens for a Sound Economy is now FreedomWorks and the Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation is now the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. David Koch is chairman of the board of directors of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. I invite anyone who sees this to please update the page, as I respect SourceWatch and its procedures, and therefore do not feel it is appropriate to update it myself. User:NMShkr 10:33, 10 August 2010 (UTC)