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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFor-profit late cancer treatment comp. pays FreedomWorks to fight making early detection affordable
For-profit late-stage cancer treatment company pays for FreedomWorks to fight making early detection affordable
For five years, FreedomWorks has proclaimed itself a leading tea party group fueling the conservative grassroots and fighting establishment Republicans. The organization touts its small-dollar donations from everyday activists, but it also has received substantial funding from corporate donors and one-percenters, most notably Richard Stephenson, a FreedomWorks board member who founded the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
Documents obtained by Mother Jonesincluding emails, financial records, and fundraising pitchesshow that CTCA, in addition to Stephenson, gave money to FreedomWorks, and that Stephenson's son, Shawn, a Switzerland-based businessman, had a central role in overseeing the Stephenson family's support of FreedomWorks. The goal, Shawn Stephenson noted in a September 2010 email, was "creating a tsunami of change directed at DC that is and will be historic." But the documents also reveal that the Stephensons and CTCA expected real returns for the money they pumped into FreedomWorks.
In numerous emails, CTCA officials said they anticipated their FreedomWorks donations would produce tangible benefits for the company. For example, they hoped that FreedomWorks would help CTCA hone its online marketing and outreach skills. (CTCA is a privately held chain of hospitals that treats advanced-stage cancer patients. It reaches new customers largely via TV commercials and digital advertising.) As Shawn Stephenson put it in 2010, "I know there will be benefits that all of CTCA will gain through the work that Freedomworks is pursuing."
A spokeswoman for CTCA declined to comment for this story. FreedomWorks and Shawn Stephenson did not respond to detailed requests for comment.
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http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/freedomworks-switzerland-richard-stephenson-matt-kibbe
There's a euphemism that says 'He needs killin.' That means he is so nasty he has no good use on Earth.
I don't believe in making this statement literal, but at times my patience is stretched.........
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Iggo
(47,552 posts)"It's all about the come-back."
GeorgeGist
(25,320 posts)to get me to bite the lure of your subject line.