501(c)4s - The GOP's preemptive strike to protect its fraudulent activity

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4. Some of these groups actually prey on Tea Partiers

This is a pattern that goes way back and is part of the direct mail fundraising racket. You form a group to appeal to some current conservative cause or other, send out requests for donations, and then spend 90% of the take on directors' salaries and on hiring your friends as "outside consultants."

When I've googled on some of these fraudulent groups, I've run into complaints by the Tea Partiers themselves about being ripped off.

Some of these groups even claim on their websites what contributions to them are tax deductible when they aren't -- because those groups haven't successfully registered with the IRS.

There's a lot of fraud, for sure, but not all of it is on behalf of the GOP.