A split is opening up between two forces that helped to launch the Tea Party in 2009. FreedomWorks, a free market/limited government advocacy group, released a statement criticizing the move by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch to sue for majority control of the Cato Institute.

Koch Industries is planning a meeting of a secretive network of Republican donors in Palm Springs in January to “develop strategies to counter the most severe threats facing our free society and outline a vision of how we can foster a renewal of American free enterprise and prosperity.” The Kochs insist on strict confidentiality surrounding the California meetings, which are entitled “Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Free Enterprise and Prosperity.”