Even as the group looks ahead, a report now says Dick Armey left his job as chairman of FreedomWorks over a dispute with the Tea Party group's president, Matt Kibbe — and that the fight was not over the direction of the group but over Kibbe's book deal. Politico's Kenneth P. Vogel writes that Army felt Kibbe was personally profiting from his book Hostile Takeover, "despite relying on FreedomWorks staff and resources to research, help write and promote it." Armey refused to sign a memorandum, saying the book was written without significant resources from FreedomWorks, which would have allowed Kibbe to own the rights and royalties to it. "What bothered me most about that was that he was asking me to lie, and it was a lie that I thought brought the organization in harm’s way," Armey told Vogel.

On Tuesday, executive vice president Adam Brandon told The Atlantic Wire that the group had "difference of opinion with Armey" but that "we're pretty excited" about the group's work going into 2013.

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Elspeth Reeve