Power Struggle Grips the Club for Growth

[papau]

http://www.nysun.com/article/8587

February 2, 2005 Edition
Power Struggle Grips the Club for Growth
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
February 2, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/8587

The recent resignation of the president of one of the nation's most successful conservative political groups, the Club for Growth, was part of a broader power struggle over the organization's governance and its stance on policy issues, according to sources inside and outside the group.

The Club for Growth announced last month that its president, Stephen Moore, was leaving to start a new organization with a similar outlook, the Free Enterprise Fund. The club's statements about the change, including a letter from Mr. Moore, portrayed the transition as an amicable "passing the torch" from Mr. Moore to the new president, Patrick Toomey.

However, sources familiar with the inner workings of the group said Mr. Moore's departure followed heated disagreements with the club's four-person board of directors.

The rift over governance of the group also led a vaunted economist, Arthur Laffer, to quit the club's board in recent weeks. Other founders of the club and members of its economic advisory pan el have also taken sides in the dispute.

In his January 7 letter to the club's members, Mr. Moore said he was "happy to announce" the appointment of Mr. Toomey, a former congressman who nearly defeated Senator Specter of Pennsylvania in the GOP primary last year. Mr. Moore said he planned to focus his efforts on the Free Enterprise Fund, "an exciting new venture which will complement the club's work." He said the organization would advocate for simplification of the tax code, reforms to the legal system, and private Social Security accounts.<snip>