Tea Party debate brews up- Part 2
I am following up, as promised, to the ‘Tea Party debate brews up’ piece I posted back on January 26 of this year. To refresh your memories, here is the opening to the post.
‘The public’s growing dissent with both the Democratic and Republican parties has revived the call for a third political party to break the present two-party monopoly in American politics. In Florida, the “Tea Party” has officially formed and registered a political party that in our opinion will only bleed votes from the Republican Party and ensure future Democrat victories. Opponents of the official “Tea Party” have begun to make the case why the “Tea Party” lacks the infrastructure, a coherent platform, money, or the leaders at this juncture to become a credible force in electoral politics that has the ability to get its candidates elected.’
The Shark Tank’s view on this issue is unwavering. We continue to think the Tea ‘Political” Party is a detriment to the Republican party. But in all fairness, we are posting a letter sent to us by Nick Egoroff of Orlando, Florida. Egoroff is the Communications Director for the Tea ‘Political’ Party.
I welcome everyone to let us know how they feel about this issue by leaving a comment. Thanks.
The Shark Tank’s objective is to provide an open forum for a wide variety of perspectives on this topic, as we will encourage guest authors to publish their viewpoints.
- The Editors of the Shark Tank
3 Mar 10
Nick Egoroff
Communications Director
Florida Tea Party
Orlando Tea Party Split! No Room For Anyone But Republicans!
Phil Russo, who along with Jason Hoyt and Tom Tillison, organized most of the Orlando tea party events is splitting from the group because Republican influence is becoming too strong. He had tried throughout the last year to maintain the autonomous nature of the group.
The last straw came when Tea Party Patriots Live, the radio show that he helped create, interviewed Adam Lovejoy, the newly elected vice chairman of the local Republican Party. According to Russo it was nothing more than praise for the GOP. No hard questions or criticism of RINO’s was voiced.
There are also questions of who would control the movement. Previously Mr. Russo had been free to put out press releases as he saw fit. Then after putting out one that was mildly critical of Marco Rubio, that policy was abruptly changed. From now on Mr. Russo would have to clear the press releases with Hoyt and Tillison.
“There was all of a sudden a feeling that Hoyt was in control,” said Russo.
He also pointed to financial concerns. Recently Jason Hoyt flew to Washington, D.C. to attend the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference. According to Russo, Hoyt spent money out of the Orlando tea party account without consulting anyone.
“I have to get my press releases cleared, but Jason can spend hundreds of dollars without asking,” he said.
The three had also been planning a April 12th Tax Day Tea Party Protest in downtown Orlando. On the stage would only be Republicans. Russo said, “You can now be assured that only Republicans will be at that event.”
The main speaker is 20 year incumbent House Minority Leader John Boehner (R). Mr. Boehner has been branded by many as a RINO and representing everything wrong with the GOP.
There have been many questions whether the tea party movement was just an arm of the Republican Party. People have been excited about the potential for tea party’s, but it now appears that the leadership has begun to be sucked into the world of political intrigue.
Jason Hoyt and Tom Tillison have become active participants of the Orange County Republican Executive Committee. Hoyt was also tapped to give a speech praising longtime insider Adam Lovejoy when Lovejoy was elected vice chairman of the local party. Hoyt further cemented his support for the GOP when he invited Lovejoy on Tea Party Patriots Live to sing the praises of all things Republican.
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32 Responses to Tea Party debate brews up- Part 2
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In my conversations with other groups throughout Florida there is a consensus that a third party would be playing right into the hands of the Democratic party. A party which right now is the majority in both houses and the President’s party. This is the party that is ignoring the will of the people by going forward with a Government Run Health Care bill which the majority in poll after poll demonstrated do not want. This is the party that has given us out of control spending, have not produced any significant jobs in the private sector, want to pass legislation of Cap & Trade which will send our energy bills through the roof in spite of the fact that the information gathered about Global Warming is in question. This Administration continues to print money like there is no tomorrow, well let me tell you there is a tomorrow and we will pay the price.
Do we want a third party that will give a victory to the Democratic party I can tell you unequivocally NO! NO! NO!
This is what the Democrats want, to split the people involved in the Tea Party. Be very careful who you listen to and the “Florida Tea Party” is not at all involved in the real Tea Party movement. We have to work together and a third party WILL NOT WORK!.
Not one true grassroots leader supports the Florida Tea Party Party. It will siphon votes from conservative candidates. We must end the Pelosi/Reid control of Congress to stop their radical agenda in 2010. By 2012 things may be different for 3rd Parties but this Florida Tea Party Party does NOT represent anyone in this movement period.
While we do not want a third party, it is also equally and most important to point out that support CAN be given to Independent candidates who are conservative to be on the ballot.
Example: Trevor Drown and independent candidate from Arkansas, where the state is 92% Independent. It would be sloppy, and ignorant of the Tea Party as a whole to ignore opportunities such as these if we truly desire freedom.
I do not support the tea party as an Independent political party, but as a movement.
I have not seen membership card or requirements to “join” the Tea Party, I hope we will see that opinion is like , well everyone has one and is free to express them. What does a tea party leader hold in their hands that designates tea party leadership Send out the press releases. Lets not be guilty of what we fighting! Don’t exclude conservative democrats and independent conservatives from suggesting their candidates. Try to agree that even with bad news the public will decide truth. Do not cover up the news as they did for BHO, or we will have nothing but control freaks in charge of all of us!
Thank ya very much!
There is a creative tension right now about who is a “tea partier” as if someone had defined a litmus test. Does the “tea party” umbrella include 9-12, DCWFU, resist.net? Or can you only be a “tea partier” if a TEA PARTY LEADER says you are? Witness the fallout from Karin Hoffman’s high profile visit to Michael Steele.
In my view, if you are fiscally conservative, have attended tea party rallies, support a small government agenda, etc. – you are a “tea party person”. If you also happen to be a Republican, or lean toward Republican candidates, you are aligned with 95% of the other “tea party persons”. Tea party activists will support a smattering of independents, probably NO democrats, and mostly Republicans – that is a fact. In primaries they will choose the conservative over the RINO, but in the general, they will vote REPUBLICAN.
Why is this so hard to grasp?
What does this incomprehensible post have to do with this fake third party? Criminal Guetzloe and his flunkies have absolutely nothing to do with the authentic Tea Party. Their political party is a hijacking of our movement. No Tea Party activist should get within a mile of these scammers. They founded the party to sell Tshirts and to back RINOs like Paula Dockery over truly conservative candidates. Now their answer… Is THIS?
Clearly they have been called out, caught red handed, sued, and now they want us to look away. Not fooled, Fat Boy. Try again.
Wow, this is really weak. I don’t care about WHO is in the “Tea Party”, Mr. Egoroff, i care about specifically WHAT it stands for. And if Egoroff is the “official” spokesperson for the “official” Tea Party, does that mean the Tea Party is against offshore drilling? I’ve heard that Egoroff is against drilling off the coast of Florida, just like Democrats and some squishy Republicans. Does this mean we have yet another Party that will be obstructionist on the energy issue?
What other surprises could we be in for from yet another political party that is doesn’t know what it stands for?
If we have a third party (remember Ross Perot) we will hand the victory to the Democrats. Support true conservatives. NO NO Third Party
It seems from my impartial polling over a 2 month period, I have yet to find anyone outside the political Tea Party that thinks this 3rd party is a good idea.
Thirty Four Plaintiffs have filed a Federal Lawsuit in Palm Beach to stop this political Tea Party from threatening Tea Party Leaders and groups from using the name Tea Party in their name or the website or Group name.
FYI, they filed a Motion to Dismiss and the Judge denied it.
In addition we are asking the court to rule that they have no rights to the name “Tea Party” since it has been in use for so long in history, and it is the name of a movement.
To stay up to date join the Facebook Group “Grassroots Tea Party Hijacked by Political TEA Party!”
FUN FACTS
This PHONY tea party party was set up so RHINO Paula Dockery can blackmail the RPOF.
Goeztloe is a CRIMINAL in bed with Ultra lib Alan Grayson.
Javier Manjarres is really not hispanic at all- he’s Italian.
Charlie Crist’s wife had a sex change operation- she was previously a man.
Marco Rubio and Dave Rivera have an “un-natural” personal relationship.
“Frenchy” LeMieux will have an ethics complaint filed against him in the U.S. Senate shortly for the stealing he did after leaving the governors office.
I don’t like telling some of you this but…America is
only a two party country!Do some of you remember a person
named Perot?That is how this country had the luck to be
entertained by Slick Willie for 8 years plus and it is
still going on and on and on.I love the idea of the Tea Party and it has renewed the conservatives to know that
what was being done in the Republican Party was ,in fact,
NOT working.The people working in the Tea Party movement
have done this great nation a great justice by waking the
grass roots of the Republican Party to see that we DO have a voice and that we WILL use it.But,to split the Re-
publican Party is only to further enable the Democratic
Party to have more and more power.And this nation could
not stand to have that happen.
Thank You
In my opinion,there should not be a third party. Based on everything that I have read, and after speaking to dozens of tea party coordinators in our State, this is being perceived as being underhanded and about control. The only thing this will accomplish is to split the votes and hand over a victory to the Dems. Leaders are popping out of the woodwork. The movement was not started as a result of one person or, a single group leading the charge. The movement started at the grassroots, unorchestrated, autonomous, passionate and transparent. It is now turning into a cloak and dagger saga about control and whose on first. This is not just about the GOP, it is about candidates riding the coattails of the movement, it is about self-appointed leaders, it is about commercializing the movement and monetary gains, it is about notoriety, it is about media personalities orchestrating, manipulating these honest folks for their own gain. And, this needs to stop otherwise it will invalidate the efforts of millions of grassroot Americans that are part of this only to make a difference and to rescue our country. This movement is greater than any one single person or group(s), or ambition.
I remember recently having a local problem. I tried to contact the national groups to see if this was an isolated situation or not, and to maybe get a different take on the situation. When I finally reached the alleged regional blah, blah, blah, she told me she could not talk because she was waiting for an important interview from a tV station, and promised to get back to me. I’m still waiting.
There are a few out there that want the publicity and control, and are making it hard for the rest of us that are involved only because we want to help save our country and for no other reason.
Please go to http://www.FORA.TV, click on speech by Dmitry Orlov, and hear about what life is like during an economic collapse and what you need to do to survive.He lived through one in the Soviet Union and is trying (along with Ron Paul) to warn us.
It was proven that the third party name “Tea Party” was in fact a liberal and Democratic Party Group that wanted to confuse and divide the conservatives, regardless of the which party to which you belong. There are many articles written about becoming active first at the precinct level, then the county level, and finally state/federal levels. http://www.nationalprecinctalliance.org/
In a meeting with conservative group leaders, Michael Steele explained that the party was obligated to support Republican candidates when local people put them on the ballot. His message was short and simple: “Find conservative candidates and put them on the ticket. The Republican Party will support them.” Work within the existing parties and change them from the inside out.
So any talk of a third party will do nothing but further the liberal/progessive agenda, and I would question any person who advocates this.
The Tea Party movement is one of the greatest things that could happen to this country at this point in history. The true patriots that are behind this movement can and will make a huge difference, if they go about it in the right manner.
Splitting the conservative, anti big government, big spending vote between two parties only insures Obama’s progressive liberal agenda’s success. The primaries are the key to our success. We must register to vote in the Republican primary, put forth candidates, support those candidates and vote for those candidates that are in synch with our beliefs in the primaries.
When I realized Doug Goetzloe was involved with this Tea Party Party it became clear, we have a problem. He is the empitomy of what the Tea Party movement is opposed to. For those of you that may have not been here or have forgotten, he was for years the area’s tax watchdog, good right? That is, until he lost all credibility when the appearance of payoffs to keep his mouth shut from the expressway authority surfaced. He has been trying any way he can to regain his lost power base since. He has tried to hijack the Republican party and now the Tea Party movement. Warning: Stay as far away from this guy as you can.
A house divided… I don’t believe when last April I participated in the Tea Party protest it was meant to be anything more than a grassroots movement to say we have had enough. Let’s not lose that focus and that activisim by creating another political party. We don’t need a better mousetrap! We need to get behind the true conservative candidates and support them as one, strong voice no matter the party, the group, the club or the organization.
At this moment the Dems are driving the country full tilt into a socialist swamp. True, some Republicans have in the past favored the same course but at a somewhat slower pace. The issue right now is NOT whether the GOP should be replaced with an official Tea Party, it is how best and how quickly to get the leftwing Dems out of office and replace them with officials who will begin what will be the painful process of rebuilding our economy and our political freedoms. A third party will only divide the non-Dem vote and guarantee a socialist future for our country. Right now the most effective course for conservatives and those who support American values and traditions is to work within the GOP at the local, county and state levels to influence/control the policy and candidate nomination processes.
The TP Movement is dominated by disaffected Republicans, who simply could not stomach one more Progressive RINO candidate or watch the drift of what was once good americans in to the camp of the radical Progressives all in the name of killing more pigs.
That the Unreformed Republican party is holding out leadership opportunity to recapture the energy and fervancy and the Movementis no surprize. The RPOF is largely tooth,less and without the TP movement they stand little chance of a successful election cycle. The problem is the RPOF is still a flaming pit of progressive big government big spending idiots who wills ell out the movement in a heart beat.
The TP Movement must not be a political party, but must be an independant political force, that is its only power. The TP Movement must choose the canddiates for the Republican party and impose that will on them. As well the Movement must methodically capture committee posts and over a few election cycles re establish the ideology of the GOP to a constitutional repubiic of States Rights and Individual Accountability and Freedom.
The Orlando situation is not the model that will be played out in the end. The American TP Movement has had it with this politcal dogma that has nearly cost us our nation all in the goal of a “Big Tent.”
We need a Big Tent, full of constuitutional conservatitives PERIOD.
Splitting the “Republican” vote would not be an issue if the Republican party were the answer to the concerns of the tea party patriots. Sadly, we have more than 8 years of evidence that some (many) Republicans are as pro Big Government as the Democrats.
If the Republicans want to get the tea party patriot votes, they need to clear their slate of all the progressives. I live in District 5, and my Congresswoman would be totally in favor of the Health Care Remake if it were not a Democrat initiate. She really believe that government interference in the market is helpful.
Nominate Constitutional loving tea party patriots for all the offices, and the Republicans will have all the tea party votes.
I have been in politics a long time and my experience is that a “third” party guarantees the election of those people you didn’t want. The Tea Party is and needs to remain a “grassroots movement.”
OMG…..They’re well into snatching defeat from the jaws of a voctory!!!!
There has always been a third political party. It is called the Libertarian Party. Why not join the Libertarians?
FLORIDA HAS A CLOSED PRIMARY! ONLY REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS CAN VOTE!
Libertarians, Tea Party, Independents, and the rest of the third parties cannot vote until the general election.
The Tea Parties I have attended are composed of Republicans, Independents and even Democrats who oppose Big Government and what is now happening in this country under Obama and the ‘Gang in Washington’. They say they have HAD ENOUGH and are CONSERVATIVES..when some don’t realize that they really are. I say NO TO A THIRD PARTY as do others here it would just insure that the Liberal/Socialists will win and we just must not let that happen. I truly believe most Tea Party people will vote for a real CONSERVATIVE Republican in November. If there is a CONSERVATIVE Independent..that’s fine with me. But we need to weed out all the R.I.N.O.s and Liberal Democrats in 2010 and keep it going in 2012 and bring sanity back to America.
In my view, if you are fiscally conservative, have attended tea party rallies, support a small government agenda, etc. – you are a “tea party person”. If you also happen to be a Republican, or lean toward Republican candidates, you are aligned with 95% of the other “tea party persons”. Tea party activists will support a smattering of independents, probably NO democrats, and mostly Republicans – that is a fact. In primaries they will choose the conservative over the RINO, but in the general, they will vote REPUBLICAN.
Why is this so hard to grasp?
I AGREE WITH THE ABOVE FROM FREDJS POST HERE.!!!
Scroll back to his post.
OH Brother!
Nick and Phil,why don’t you run for office since you both seem to think that only your ideas are worthy?
This soap opera stuff is worse than high school, it is more like middle school!
The gossip and tantrums are self-gratuitous!
The 24th Amendment allows the God Given BirthRight for Citizens to walk into ANY Primary and vote for ANY Candidate running for office. The Closed Party Laws are unConsitutional.And Congress is charge with enforcement of the 24th Amendment.
The Parties being in control of who the candidate will be and who can vote is morally wrong.
The Tea Party Movement will end up being just a Noise.The GOP has used Sarah Palin to highjack the TYea Party Movement.This will cause the people’s protest against the politicians be in vain because Sarah Palin is for Amnesty and the NAU.The 2006-2008 calling,e-mailing and mailing letters to the GOP to vote for against Amnesty and build a Border Fence was what they said “we are tired and will aint going to put up with anymore” is nothing but noise beacuse once again the politicicans are smarter than the sheep.
Where are all of DOUG’S BUDDIES? WHERE are the “blog warriors”?
What is really upsetting to me is Nick Egoroff is trying to “burn” people.
He is gossiping or something. A real family doesn’t do that.. he is not a loyal person.. or I should say he has divided loyalties..
What offends me the most about him is that he thinks he is the authority on “politics”.. a big know it all blow hard.
I can see his point. If the Republican party cannot be changed, then there has to be a third party. I think it is better to be independent and support candidates you choose regardless of party affiliation.
There are two issues in this post, one of which most people seem to have ignored. The first issue is whether a third party will work. Of course not. Our country is locked into a two party system and so we must work within that system. But I have fears that we may not get the change we want with the GOP either. People sang the praises of Scott Brown even though he is not a conservative. What do we do then?
The other issue springs from the scenario revealed in this letter: Phil Russo has left over the GOP focus and praise. I myself have been very concerned that the Tea Party Movement would get hijacked. When I received the email about the April 12th Tea Party, my head almost exploded. Why is John Boehner going to be on a grassroots stage?! And even worse, this party has not been scheduled to coincide with the national parties on April 15th in order to work with Boehner’s schedule. What!? If Phil really has cut ties, I support him. We must keep these GOPers backs to the wall or they will only bring us more of the same – earmarks, spending, corruption…
Forming a third party from the Tea Party movement would be a disaster for conservatives as well as for the entire country. This would practically insure victory for the Democrats and the socialist agenda that is being forwarded by them.
Ronald Reagan once said that what this country needed was a revitalized Republican Party – not a Third Party. Let’s keep this in mind and use our power as a grassroots organization to affect change within the Republican Party. We must be patient and not get discouraged – real change takes time. No one should be fooled by attempts that will be made by the left to splinter our groups in order to defeat our agenda.