Official: Liberals Use 'Totally Bogus Story' Against Tea Party Express

What's disgusting about the TPM Muckracker hit on us is that it's a totally bogus story - and the author knows it. The $800,000 they cite was NOT paid to Russo Marsh + Associates. The vast majority of that money was to reimburse Russo Marsh + Associates for the efforts where we fronted the money in our capacity as the organizers of the Tea Party Express. To explain...The monies that were paid to Russo Marsh + Associates was mostly to pay for subvendors such as Newsmax, Human Events, Southwest Airlines, the companies that did the "wrap" of the Tea Party Express buses, the Nevada TV and radio stations where we've aired our "Defeat Harry Reid" ad campaign, Fox News & CNN where we've run our national Tea Party Express ads. And, Zachary Roth, the author of the TPM piece knew this information - and he acknowledged it with his line: "The services for which Russo, Marsh was paid appear to be legitimate campaign needs." But instead they decided to run with the headline and spin that the money was PAID to a GOP Firm. To most every person reading that story the perception would be that Russo Marsh + Associates pocketed $857,000 of the Tea Party Express money. That simply is not true. Not even close. And then Rachel Maddow of MSNBC last night (and the CBS blog, and dozens of other liberal blogs) have run with the story...read more