Dick Armey

Congressional Career

Armey ran for Congress in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the first time in 1984, with President Ronald Reagan at the head of the GOP ticket. He unseated incumbent Democrat Tom Vandergriff, becoming one of six Texas Republican rookies - a group dubbed The Texas Six Pack - to win that year.Jacoby, Mary, “House divided,” Salon, May 24, 2004.

By 1994, after spending a decade in the minority, Armey joined with then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to create the “Contract with America,” a collection of popular conservative ideas that nationalized the congressional races and helped the GOP take control of the House for the first time in 40 years. Gingrich was elected House speaker and Armey became House majority leader. Armey was accused of being part of a group that tried to force Gingrich from office in 1997, though Armey denies any involvement.Carney, James, “Attempted Republican Coup: Ready, Aim, Misfire,” Time, July 28, 1997.

Lobbyist

In 2003, Armey retired from Congress and, though he routinely derided the revolving-door culture of Washington, he took a $750,000-a-year jobMichaels, Dave, “Armey says he mastered dual roles of lobbyist, conservative leader,” The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 29, 2009.  in the lobbying shop of DLA Piper, a large law firm. He never fully returned to Texas.Sokolove, Michael, “Dick Armey Is Back on the Attack,” New York Times Magazine, Nov. 4, 2009. l

Armey was earning another $550,000 annually as head of FreedomWorks,Michaels, Dave, “Armey says he mastered dual roles of lobbyist, conservative leader,” The Dallas Morning News, Oct. 29, 2009. He soon found that his work organizing Tea Party opposition to Obama’s proposed health-care reforms upset large health-care companies that were clients of DLA Piper and supportive of the reforms. Armey was pressed to quit lobbying job in August 2009.Kirkpatrick, David D., “Drug Firms Cost Lobbyist His Position,” The New York Times, Aug. 14, 2009.

Tea Party Leader

Armey’s aim in working with the Tea Party is to channel the voter anger embodied in the movement into a political force in the 2010 elections, not only to defeat Democrats but also Republicans he accused of straying from the party’s low-tax, limited-government principles.Davis, Susan, “Tea Party Activists Ponder How to Win Elections,” The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 7, 2010. 

Armey describes his strategy this way: “First step is to stop bad policy. Second step is to get the right folks elected that will advance a small government policy agenda. Third step for the movement is to support that agenda. We are only at step one.”“Dick Armey on the Tea Party movement: The new majority?” TheWashington Post, Feb. 8, 2010.

2010 Elections

The Tea Party has already shown it can impact federal elections.

In a special House election in New York in November 2009, Tea Party activists opposed the Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava as too liberal and instead backed a third-party conservative, Doug Hoffman. And while Hoffman ultimately lost to Democrat Bill Owens in what had been a traditionally Republican district, the Tea Party’s revolt seized the attention of the Republican Party’s national leadership.McGrath, Ben, “The Movement, The rise of Tea Party activism,” The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2010.

The movement gained clout a few months later, when in a special Senate election in Massachusetts in January 2009, the Tea Party-backed Republican, Scott Brown, captured a seat that had been held for 46 years by liberal icon Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.).Crimaldi, Laura; Van Sack, Jessica; Chabot, Hillary, “Tea Party members brew Scott Brown boost,” The Boston Herald, Jan. 16, 2010. 

Already FreedomWorks and the Tea Party have announced that they will oppose Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and back Marco Rubio (R); the two are running in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat and Crist publicly supported Obama’s economic stimulus bill.Isenstadt, Alex, “Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership,” Politico, Oct. 11, 2009. Also targeted is former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, a California Senate candidate  who already has the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.Isenstadt, Alex, “Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership,” Politico, Oct. 11, 2009.

Base Closings

One of Armey’s most significant legislative accomplishments during his 20 years in Congress was a bipartisan bill that established an independent commission that would determine which surplus military installations the government should close. More than 100 bases have been closed since the 1990s, a savings of $4 billion a year, according to FreedomWorks estimates.“About FreedomWorks: Chairman Dick Armey,” Freedomworks.

Farm Subsidies

Armey also worked with Democrats to reduce federal subsidies to farmers, an effort that led to the 1996 Freedom to Farm legislation. Armey has called for other reductions in federal spending, including the more popular entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.“About FreedomWorks: Chairman Dick Armey,” Freedomworks.

Tea Party Schisms

One problem Armey faces in trying to harness the Tea Party movement is that he’s not the only one trying. The movement is a disparate one that has attracted wildly- diverse membership, ranging from conservative-minded independents and libertarians to fringe groups like the “birthers,” who insist Obama is not a U.S. citizen and therefore not eligible to be president, and the “gold bugs,” who want to do away with paper currency.Stratton, Jim, “GOP hopefuls walk fine line with Tea Party activists,” The Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 31, 2010. 

Divisions in the movement were highlighted in February 2009 when a for-profit group in Tennessee organized a $550-a-head Tea Party national convention even though many Tea Party members - including Armey and his group - boycotted the gathering because they thought the steep ticket price and the $100,000 speaking fee paid to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) were against the movement’s populist character.Zernike, Kate, “Convention Is Trying to Harness Tea Party Spirit,” The New York Times, Feb. 5, 2010.