Tea Party Convention Hijacked By For Profit ‘Tea Party Nation’
Posted by Scott @ 10:46 pmFeb 2
As reported previously on The Liberty Journal, several big supporters of the Teal Party Movement has already pulled out.
Fox new is reporting the following..
Over the past few weeks, several sponsors, speakers and volunteers have backed out of the convention, scheduled Feb. 4-6 at Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., after learning that the convention organizer, Tea Party Nation, is a for-profit company. Some activists and outsiders alike are questioning the motives of Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips.
Phillips originally said profits from the convention would fund a tax-exempt, “527″ political organization that would air ads to promote conservative candidates.
But Phillips later told Politico that plans for the 527 group may not fly.
The event’s main sponsor, American Liberty Alliance, dropped its sponsorship after learning that those who purchased tickets paid for them through PayPal accounts linked to an e-mail address belonging to Phillips’ wife.
National Precinct Alliance has canceled precinct strategy workshops. Meanwhile, American Majority scrapped plans for two sessions at the convention and withdrew its sponsorship.
The national convention that began as a way to unify tea party activists from across the country is now threatening to divide them. Some of Tea Party Nation’s own volunteers and members have rejected the convention because they see profiteering and fear a Republican Party takeover.
Something just doesn’t smell right here. I think Scott Boston summed it up pretty well..
“It seems to me like it’s going to be a bunch of people who want to stand in front of our movement and lead it as parade leaders rather than being somebody who wants to walk with us in the parade,” said Scott Boston, member of Bowling Green Ohio Tea Party Patriots.
Sara Palin is still planning on being the keynote speaker at the event. At $349 to hear Palin and $549 for the full event, I don’t see the average Tea Party activist attending. This kind of thing runs counter to the fiscal sensibility of Tea Party activists.
It’s a shame it had to come to this. The Tea Party movement deserves better.
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2 blog comments
Comment by Al on February 3, 2010 at 3:51 pm
We could see it coming, but that’s the animal called politics. You essentially have unrest in both major party camps. The (D) party demonizes the Tea Party Movement and the (R) party is looking use it as a lifeboat, while at the same time trying to take credit for it and co-opt it. If we resist, they will try to pull us down with them. Then you have the Neocons on the right who will resist at any cost and will try destroy the Tea Party Movement, regardless.
So, after the 2010 mid-terms, the (R) party will take the gains from the Tea Party Movement’s activism and then throw them under the bus after the elections. Then you’ll see what the Tea Party is really about.
Comment by Scott on February 3, 2010 at 8:53 pm
The Tea Party movement doesn’t need a convention (or a leader) at the present. The millions of citizens who are part of the movement can simply donate $10-$20 directly to the candidate we support, right over the net. This does more than anything else to help a given candidate who has gained the support of the Tea Party movement. It’s all about voting and contributing money as a block, just as other so called “special interests” do. That’s where the real power of the Tea Party lies, not in some convention center. The internet changed the paradigm, for the better.
If a convention is ever needed, the cost of a rented convention center would be more like $25 per attendee. We certainly don’t need $100,000 paid speakers and $500 tickets. That’s absurd and it’s offends our fiscal sensibility.