Fiscal Cliff Deal Opposed By Major Conservative Groups

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A handful of people are holding this nation hostage until they get what they want.

The ultra-conservative Club for Growth stated, "This bill raises taxes immediately with the promise of cutting spending later. Tax rates will go up on marginal income, capital gains, dividends, and even certain estates when a person passes away. But it also delays the sequester for at least two months, breaking the promise made by Congress in 2011 to cut government spending. And, among other things, it includes an unpaid for extension of unemployment benefits."

Heritage Action, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, echoed these concerns, "To be clear, this is a tax increase. ... Heritage Action opposes the kick-the-can tax increase and will include it as a key vote on our legislative scorecard."

FreedomWorks President and CEO Matt Kibbe opposed Senate passage of the deal and wrote to his group's members to call their senator to express their opposition. "I urge you to call your state’s two U.S. Senators and ask them to vote NO on the McConnell-Obama bill to raise taxes and postpone the promised sequester savings. We will count any vote on this proposal as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2012."

A fourth group, the Koch brothers-controlled Americans for Prosperity, stopped short of calling for supporters to oppose the deal, but did blast both the deal's contents and the way it was being passed.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Opposed By Major Conservative Groups
Posted: 01/01/2013 5:04 pm EST | Updated: 01/01/2013 5:12 pm EST

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a group fronting special interests started by oil billionaire David Koch and Richard Fink (a member of the board of directors of Koch Industries). AFP has been accused of funding astroturf operations but also has been fueling the "Tea Party" efforts.

Americans for Prosperity - SourceWatch

The group supports far-right Republican candidates, spending money to not only oppose Democrats, but also moderate Republicans they term "RINOs" (an acronym for Republican In Name Only). Some within the Republican party dislike the Club;[9] Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate (and current FOX News host), says the group should be called the "Club for Greed."[10]

Club for Growth - SourceWatch

Heritage Action
[I could find no information about this group other than it is a political arm of the Heritage Foundation whose contributers are a closely held secret.]

FreedomWorks is a non-profit organization heavily involved with the Tea Party movement.[1] It does not disclose its corporate donors, and its leaders are drawn heavily from the leadership of the Republican party and right-wing operatives. In 2006, the Washington Post revealed that from 2001 - 2006 FreedomWorks engaged in a hidden deal with insurance brokers whereby the brokers would sell high-deductible insurance policies and tax-free medical savings plans to individuals at a group discount, and those who purchased the plans would automatically be added FreedomWorks membership list. Customers unaware of the membership arrangement, for which they were charged extra fees. Membership was a condition of getting the discounted insurance plan. The arrangement was credited with helping increase the number of "members" FreedomWorks could claim belonged to the organization. About 16,000 people "joined" the organization in this manner, causing $638,040 to flow into FreedomWorks's coffers over 5 1/2 years in the form of monthly checks for "association fees" collected by the Medical Savings Insurance Company, that were forwarded to FreedomWorks.[2]

In the weeks before the election, more than $12 million in donations was funneled through two Tennessee corporations to the FreedomWorks super PAC after negotiations with Stephenson over a preelection gift of the same size, according to three current and former employees with knowledge of the arrangement. The origin of the money has not previously been reported. The $12 million came from two corporations set up in Knoxville, Tennesse within one day of each other, Specialty Investments Group and Kingston Pike Development.[17] Both were established by William S. Rose III, a bankruptcy lawyer in Knoxville. Rose has refused to answer questions about the donations. Three current and former FreedomWorks employees say the money came from Richard Stephenson and his family.

FreedomWorks - SourceWatch