Anatomy of the Tea Party Movement: American Future Fund

On February 19, the same day that Rick Santelli's infamous MSNBC ignited the Tea Party movement, the Fund put up a petition on their website for those interested in attending the Chicago Tea Party.
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The American Future Fund describes itself as a "multi-state issues advocacy group designed to effectively communicate conservative and free market ideals." It appears to be a coalition of high-powered conservative political operatives who were among the first supporters of the Tea Party phenomenon and is already one of the first Tea Party groups to begin taking concrete steps toward the 2010 elections by working to ease robo-calling restrictions.

Founded in 2007, the Fund's address of incorporation matches an address for the law firm of Holzmann Vogel PLLC. The firm's managing partner, Jill Holtzman-Vogel, is former chief counsel to the Republican National Committee and acted as counsel to the 2000 Bush/Cheney campaign in the Florida recount. Currently she serves as a Virginia State Senator. The firm has so far refused to comment on its associations with the Fund.

On February 19, the same day that Rick Santelli's infamous MSNBC ignited the Tea Party movement, the Fund put up a petition on its website for those interested in attending the Chicago Tea Party. The site asks, "Would YOU join us in Chicago for a new, "Boston Tea Party?" IF WE GET ENOUGH SIGNATURES, IT WILL HAPPEN!" The Fund's other known involvement in the Tea Party movement was to help FreedomWorks distribute preparatory materials for the summer's town hall protests. The Fund also emailed its "tens of thousands" of members to help direct them to the town hall meetings.

Read full coverage detailing the various parts of the Anatomy of the Tea Party Movement:

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