Bill Sparkman

Police: Sparkman Committed Suicide, Made It Look Like Murder For Insurance Scam

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2009, 2:19PM

Census worker Bill Sparkman committed suicide and deliberately made it look like murder as part of an insurance scam, Kentucky state police have concluded.

State police, working with the FBI, said at a press conference moments ago that Sparkman had recently taken out two life insurance policies that would not pay out for suicide. It appears Sparkman hoped that the scheme would benefit his son, Josh Sparkman.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, FBI, Right-wing extremism

Health Care

MoJo Turns Spotlight On Far-Right Doctors' Group

Zachary Roth | November 18, 2009, 12:14PM

Mother Jones takes a close look at the far-right doctor's group to which David McKalip -- the Florida neurosurgeon who sent that racist picture of President Obama as a witch doctor -- belongs.

Lately, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has been teaming up with the Tea Partiers to fight health-care reform. But as Mother Jones shows, the group is so far out there it makes its Tea Party allies look like David Broder.

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Topics: Barack Obama, David McKalip, Health Care, Right-wing extremism, Tea Parties

Census Bureau

Investigators Probing Whether Sparkman Manipulated Death Scene For Insurance Scheme: Report

Zachary Roth | November 13, 2009, 2:46PM

The probe into the death of Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman continues -- and authorities may now be considering a whole new theory of the case.

Two law enforcement sources tell the AP that investigators are considering whether Sparkman committed suicide, but intentionally made it look like murder in order to allow his son to make a life insurance claim. Most life insurance policies don't cover suicides, at least within a certain time frame after the policy begins.

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Topics: Bill Sparkman, Census Bureau, Right-wing extremism

Tea Party Express

Party Foul! Tea Partiers Eat Their Own In Bitter Internal Feud

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 5:08PM

The Tea Party movement is being ripped apart by bitter internal rancor, highlighted by a lawsuit against a former leader, vituperative name-calling, and charges of financial mismanagement and corruption.

As we told you this morning, board members for the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) this week filed suit against Amy Kremer, a former TPP leader who fell out with the group over her involvement with a rival Tea Party faction, the Tea Party Express. And on Tuesday, a judge granted a preliminary injunction, ordering Kremer to return control of the TPP websites to the board, and to stop representing herself as a TPP spokeswoman.

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Topics: Amy Kremer, Health Care, Right-wing extremism, Tea Parties, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Patriots

Amy Kremer

Former Tea Party Leader Says Ex-Comrades Are Suing Her

Zachary Roth | November 12, 2009, 11:10AM

The Tea Party movement is in danger of being ripped apart by internal rancor.

For months, the Tea Party Patriots have been embroiled in a dispute with a former leader, Amy Kremer, over her involvement with the Tea Party Express, a rival faction of Tea Partiers which the Patriots see as inauthentic and overly tied to the GOP.

And now Kremer has revealed that TPP is suing her.

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Topics: Amy Kremer, Right-wing extremism, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Patriots

Tea Party Patriots

Tea Partiers Get Set For Hectic Final Push Against Health-Care Reform

Zachary Roth | November 2, 2009, 4:07PM

Declaring that "this is our battle of Trenton," Tea Party activists are gearing up for a last stand against the health-care reform effort they see as putting the country on a glide-path to socialism.

With the House set to vote on reform as early as this week, Tea Party Patriot leaders yesterday sent out a lengthy email to volunteers -- forwarded to TPMmuckraker -- announcing "It's Make or Break Time with Health Care," and laying out a frenetic schedule of direct lobbying activities for the next few days, including phone calls and in-person visits to members of both houses of Congress.

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Topics: Health Care, Michele Bachmann, Right-wing extremism, Sarah Palin, Tea Party Patriots