Dick Armey was so furious over a FreedomWorks colleague’s book deal he wanted to resign last summer, but he agreed to stay through November’s election in exchange for an $8 million consulting fee, it emerged Tuesday. The Associated Press was first to report the news that Armey had signed a contract in September agreeing to leave the group by the end of November in exchange for the sum, paid out in $400,000 installments. But Armey’s eagerness to leave didn’t make sense until Politico reported he was furious over a deal inked by FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe to write Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government’s Stranglehold on America. Armey was upset that Kibbe had retained rights to the book, which he researched with the help of FreedomWorks staff and resources, a move Armey thought could jeopardize the group’s tax-exempt status. Kibbe’s explanation is airtight, though: “‘I wrote this book and it is my property,’ he said, adding that he wrote the 416-page book entirely ‘on my Christmas vacation’ last year.” That must be one high-quality piece of literature.
