On Sunday, February 26th, the North Carolina State Chairman of the Republican Party met with TEA Party “leaders” to discuss coordination between the two groups. I invited Scott Hurley to film the meeting and I also filmed the entire event. A portion of the meeting from Scott is shown below. After the video is a copy of the plan that Christine Gates handed out to everyone in attendance. I did not make any spelling or grammatical changes to the document.
This meeting was not announced on NCFreedom.us since it was only open to “leaders” submitted by Dr. Johnson from Christine Gates.
David DeGerolamo
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khd_l34Fcco
From: Christine Gates (abcgates3@yahoo.com)
To: tfjohnson@tfdf.org;
Date: Mon, February 7, 2011 7:01:44 PM
Cc:
Subject: My suggestion for TEA / GOP bridge building
Dear Dr. Johnson,
Since communication is key in the task of bridge building between the GOP and the TEA Parties. There has been talk of setting up various hierarchies of groups to communicate directly with the GOP in Raliegh. I have a simple solution.
I strongly recommend that each local TEA Party* group begin building strong relationships with OUR OWN Senator and House member. So that we can consult with and make known our positions on issues as they arise – information sharing. This is the bottom up approach to building the bridge. We need to be in regular contact with our elected state officials to offer opinions we have and answer questions from them. We need to make it clear to our TEA Party members that they should not be shy about calling and emailing elected officials. “Freedom requires eternal vigilance.”
Keep it simple.
I think it is incumbent on Robin Hayes, the self-avowed bridge builder, to facilitate plan for the top down, as well. We, the TEA Party groups, need to win over Robin Hayes with logic and depth of knowledge on issues. Some of our elected officials need to get the official “ok” from Party leadership to comfortably be able to come to meetings, get on our mailing lists, and get to know us better. We are not what the media portrays us to be. Tim Johnson is THE MAN to skillfully direct this plan from his dual positions in both organizations.
We won’t all agree 100% of the time, but we can at least get the full court press dialog started – today! If Mr. Hayes wants to build bridges, then let’s do it!
The check and balance here is that every member within TEA Party groups needs to be aware of the information that is being transmitted to their already elected officials (via email, websites, summaries at meetings). If the members don’t like what their TEA Party leader is telling their Senator/Assemblyman – then get a new local TEA leader. If the group members and citizens don’t like the voting record of the Senator/Assemblyman in Raleigh – vote them out. It all stays local. I don’t have the time to chase the bullshit all over the state within hierarchies.
This is effective. Keep it simple.
This plan pushes the county GOP Chairs to find good candidates and be active in their communities. If we urge our grassroots members to individually donate to the best candidate, the one that embodies this movement, in the primary, then the GOP becomes marginalized. TEA Party groups can be a source of money for GOOD candidates, not the Party. If we help find good candidates to run in the Primaries, we become effective for the greater good. SMALLER GOVERNMENT. We can make noise for the candidates. We can form a few PAC’s across the state to run support ads and fundraisers for candidates. If we get them elected in May, then we freakin’ win! We win it all!!!! But the candidates still get to have an orthodox (R) after their name on the ballot.
As a last note, I can provide a list of contact information for about 75 groups across the state, if you would like it. I suggest getting other lists from other groups to make sure you have everyone. Mr. Hayes, or you, can simply email the group to ask for opinions on specific issues. Send out a survey questions. Poll Daddy will allow 10 questions a month. It’s free.
*TEA Party includes 912Project, We the People, and Campaign for Liberty minded groups. But the term TEA Party is going to be used generically in this case.
Smiles,
Christine Gates 🙂
Founder, Caldwell TEA Party
Cell 828-474-0022
http://caldwellTEAparty.org
“Silence gives consent.” ~Pope Boniface VII
“Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.” ~Sir Edmund Burke
“The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.” –Thomas Paine
“History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower
After filming the SEIU Bus Tour and the Save the American Dream Rally in Raleigh, I think the term “white noise” may be appropriate for this effort above. Based on the Republic Party’s “cost cutting” measures for our bankrupt country, we need to be focusing on what is really important in the future.
In 2010, the Tea Party, not the establishment GOP, put up its own candidates. We identified, vetted and volunteered for truly constitutional, fiscally conservative individuals. We organized fundraisers, made phone calls, wrote letters to the editor, went door to door, put out yard signs, worked the polls, and donated our hard earned dollars to candidates whose values included limited government, fiscal restraint, personal responsibility, individual liberty and free markets.. On November 2, our efforts paid big dividends when Tea Party backed candidates across the country were elected and sent to Washington to join the now formidable Tea Party Caucus.
While the Tea Party continues to grow, adding new members from all walks of life; moderates, liberals, Democrats, Libertarians, and Republicans, GOP membership continues to decline. It is the minority. We will no longer accept or back GOP establishment candidates as our only choice in the primary. With more boots on the ground, you can expect at a minimum a repeat of 2010.
The GOP would be wise to work with us and not against us.
[…] https://ncrenegade.com//editorial/robin-hayes-and-the-tea-party/ […]
Response to Christine’s post:
“We, the TEA Party groups, need to win over Robin Hayes with logic and depth of knowledge on issues. ” Robin Hayes has a worse record than Arlan Specter. It’s public record. He’s a RINO. A waste of time. He sees no further than the next election and how he can ‘use’ anyone he can including the tea party groups to further his own agenda.
Any representative that “need(s) to get the official “ok” from Party leadership to comfortably be able to come to meetings, get on our mailing lists, and get to know us better …” needs to go. We are citizens that call, write, visit, etc. when we wish to communicate with our reps. If they don’t like it or need ‘permission,’ the tea party folks have an obligation to get them unelected. They work for us. Not the other way around. It’s also their job as our representatives to make it their business to know their constituents. That means us. This ‘permission’ is a symptom of the arrogance of power and the fear they are losing it.
“This plan pushes the county GOP Chairs to find good candidates and be active in their communities. If we urge our grassroots members to individually donate to the best candidate, the one that embodies this movement, in the primary, then the GOP becomes marginalized. TEA Party groups can be a source of money for GOOD candidates, not the Party. If we help find good candidates to run in the Primaries, we become effective for the greater good. SMALLER GOVERNMENT. We can make noise for the candidates. We can form a few PAC’s across the state to run support ads and fundraisers for candidates. If we get them elected in May, then we freakin’ win! We win it all!!!! But the candidates still get to have an orthodox (R) after their name on the ballot.”
There is a PAC in place and an organization that vets candidates who embrace our Tea Party Principles. Many of you are familiar with Independence Caucus (IC)www.icaucus.org. You wear the IC hat as a delegate to participate in the vetting and endorsement process and then take it off and return to your tea party groups to get your candidate elected. Each group is separate, autonomous and maintains its uniqueness and local grassroots base. With IC, you now have the opportunity to talk directly to the candidate, ask the hard questions and get that candidate to committ to the principles we embrace and demonstrate knowledge and adherence to constitutional authority -- an essential. After elected, IC members and delegates monitor their voting record and their contributors to keep them accountable. There are teams in place to follow the money trail of special interest money that has virtually blurred the lines between Democrat and Republican. The ‘machinery’ and ‘process’ is in place. This also gives us a way to force the GOP to come to us for candidates. We won’t support their shills. For too long, these party hacks have put party before country. That’s why we are in this mess. We need to change the paradigm if we are to save our Republic. Please take the time to check out IC. Mark Hopp, NC IC State Director is available to come to visit your group.
Couldn’t agree more that “… each local TEA Party* group begin building strong relationships with OUR OWN Senator and House member. So that we can consult with and make known our positions on issues as they arise – information sharing. This is the bottom up approach to building the bridge. We need to be in regular contact with our elected state officials to offer opinions we have and answer questions from them. We need to make it clear to our TEA Party members that they should not be shy about calling and emailing elected officials. “Freedom requires eternal vigilance.”
Thanks for the post. Jane Bilello, Chair, Asheville Tea Party and Asheville Tea PAC
None can doubt the veracity of this atrlcie.
Robin Hayes
Club for Growth: 37%
Citizens Against Govt. Waste: 40%
FreedomWorks: 42%
Arlen Specter has a better record as a fiscal conservative than Robin Hayes.
“whose values included limited government, fiscal restraint, personal responsibility, individual liberty and free markets”
Individual rights.
…………………………………………………..
What I expected after two years of protesting, organizing, reading, researching, attending events & contacting my representatives on all levels was the leaders of the TEA PARTIES to have a list of acceptable practices for the GOP Chairman. These can be summarized by the acronym S.T.D.’s:
Spending=NO NEW SPENDING!
Taxes=MUST BE LOWERED ON PRODUCERS IN USA!
Deficits=A PLAN TO ELIMINATE ALL DEFICITS MUST BE MADE NOW!
Instead I watched as “leaders” quibbled over semantics & titles but covered NO SUBSTANCE, CAUSES OR SOLUTIONS.
The worst insult was when they demanded he join an organization but not that he adopt the undefined principles of it & he was more than willing as long as it cost him nothing. Well it cost me two years of my time, effort & money to film all these events to be at this meeting so why should he receive acquiescence for free?
As one of the attendees of this meeting, I do not consider myself a TEA Party leader. I do consider myself to be a reporter who is trying to motivate patriots to action through education and example. Patriot groups effectively argue for their individual autonomy mainly for personal egos and/or political gain. As Scott points out, this meeting could have achieved results if coordination had been encouraged.
We forget “Unite or Die” and replace it with “Look at Me”. We cannot unite and become a force similar to SEIU and Moveon.org without public virtue because we have no funding and no power base to direct our efforts. NC Freedom’s effort to be a communication’s network was an attempt to promote groups’ meetings and activities. There is only one issue that we need to address: our country is bankrupt and no one is addressing this issue.