Saturday, April 11, 2009

Toledo Tax Day Tea Party is not a GOP function

I received an email from the Lucas County Republican Party (LCRP) and the first item on the list is the following:

Tired of being over taxed? Join Chairman of The Lucas County Republican Party, Jon Stainbrook, Wednesday, April 15th from 11:30am to 1:00pm at International Park for Toledo's Tax Day Tea Party!

Prizes will be given for the best patriotic outfit and for the best protest sign.

If you have any questions, please contact the Lucas County Republican Party at 419-482-0565.

We look forward to seeing you there!

While support from members of ALL political parties is welcomed, I need to point out that this is NOT a function of the LCRP as it may appear to some who read this email. In fact, as with almost all the Tea Parties, affiliation with any political party has been avoided. This is a true grass-roots movement designed by volunteers - many of whom have never been politically active before. Additionally, there are many attendees who are just as angry at the Republicans as they are the Democrats for the tax-and-spend votes and decisions which have gotten so many of them upset to the point that we are even having tea parties in the first place.

I also know that a representative from the LCRP sent a message to the Tea Party Facebook page yesterday asking for details of the event and they were sent the flyer that had been designed. This is what they did with the information.

GOP Chairman Jon Stainbrook is just one of many people who plan to attend the event and the prizes for best patriotic costume and poster have been arranged by the organizers - not the LCRP.

So if you have questions about the Tea Party, it is best to contact the organizer of the event, Tricia Lyons (tricia dot lyons at electroprime dot com) or click on the link in the left-hand column of my blog for the Toledo Tea Party Facebook page where you can RSVP.

I'm sure Tricia and the other volunteers who have worked so hard to organize the Toledo Tea Party appreciate the additional advertising from the LCRP email and that they will welcome any Republican who decides to join the event.

UPDATE: Apparently, some other people are seeing similar actions:

Is the Tea Party tied to the GOP?

RNC Chairman Steele requests speaker spot at Chicago Tea Party

How to Spoil a Tea Party

6 comments:

Casmi said...

This appears as though the LCRP wants to take credit for this event. And that's not right!

I applaud the volunteers who have spent their time and effort to get this organized. Hopefully their event will make enough of an impact to cause many to start thinking for themselves again.

But I'm really irked that the LCRP put this out there in such a way as to make it appear as if it were their idea/doing. That's really crappy.

Jack McHugh said...

Maggie - Check out my post, "How to Spoil a Tea Party," which engages this very issue.
http://jackmchughblog.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/how-to-spoil-a-tea-party/

BTW, this was picked up by taxdayteaparty.com and got a zillion hits!

http://taxdayteaparty.com/2009/04/have-people-lost-control-of-their-government/

Maggie said...

Jack - thanks for the link - I've added it and some others onto the main post.

skeeter1107 said...

The tea party has been organized as a non-partisan event as far as political parties go.

The tea party is about many things, one of which is adherence to the Constitution of the United States.

Should be fun. See you there!

Maggie said...

I just received this email from Tricia Lyons via my Facebook page:

Tricia sent you a message.

--------------------
Re: LCRP and the tea party

I can't post on your blog spot for some reason...
can you post this for me??


Hi, Tricia here. I am happy the LCRP has finally stepped up to at least acknowledge there is an event going on. I must say, I have been working day and night on this event with NO HELP WHAT SO EVER FROM THEM!
It sure looks as if they have taken the flyer I e-mailed them yesterday and used for their own.....
I do hope their e-mail will help spread the word though.....

Timothy W Higgins said...

Maggie,

So it appears that "Jonny come lately Stainbrook" would like to once again make poor timing an excuse for poor party management.

I am someone who is more disgusted currently with Republicans than Democrats; not because they are worse, but because of my expectation is that they should know better.

Let us hope that such politically disingenuous behavior does not overshadow the hard work of such people as Tricia Lyons, and that the machinations of such people as Mr. Stainbrook does betray the very principles that should be on display at such an event.

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