FarmerJohn
Has No Life - Lives on TB
BY NATE RAU AND CHAS SISK • THE TENNESSEAN • JANUARY 17, 2010
The national Tea Party convention scheduled to take place in Nashville next month — featuring Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker — fell into turmoil last week.
Tea Party Nation, the locally based group organizing the sold-out event, got its first taste of trouble Tuesday when a key volunteer announced he and others had quit the group. They claimed the event's $549 ticket price was designed to make a profit off the popularity of the grass-roots campaign.
By week's end, the national media were putting intense pressure on founder Judson Phillips after Tea Party Nation announced that only five, right-leaning media outlets would be allowed access to the event.
NBC News reported Friday, and The Tennessean confirmed, that Phillips, a Franklin attorney, had filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in 1999 and faced three federal tax liens since 2004 totaling more than $22,000.
Phillips said in an interview with The Tennessean that Tea Party Nation had been set up as a for-profit company but denied allegations of profiteering.
"We're running a fairly tight margin," he said. "Right now, if everything plays out the way we want it to be, we're going to break even."
The convention is planned for Feb. 4-6 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. In addition to Palin, Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann are on the agenda to speak.
The fact that Tea Party Nation would be structured as a for-profit organization prompted its former webmaster, Kevin Smith, to explain his decision to leave the organization in a blog post last week that continues to ripple across the Internet.
Smith said the Tea Party began as a grass-roots campaign favoring small government and responsible spending and was being overrun by the national Republican Party looking to use the fervor of Tea Party supporters to its advantage.
"It's become clear to me that Judson and his for-profit Tea Party Nation Corporation are at the forefront of the GOP's process of hijacking the Tea Party movement," Smith wrote in his blog.
"What began as cries for true liberty and a public showing of frustration with the big government policies of both Democrats and Republicans has now been co-opted by mainstream Republican demagogues determined to use this as their 2010 election platform."
In response to Smith's post, one of Tea Party Nation's top sponsors, the American Liberty Alliance, pulled out of the convention.
The Alliance said in a news release it was concerned with how Tea Party Nation was organized. Those who signed up for the convention paid for their tickets through a PayPal account set up through Phillips' wife's e-mail address.
"To be clear, the for-profit model has its place in the movement. Many, many groups in the movement operate this way," American Liberty Alliance's executive director Eric Odom wrote in a statement.
"But these groups should always have boards and oversight, and should never, ever process donations through personal PayPal accounts."
Phillips said disgruntled volunteers have misunderstood how proceeds would be used and the structure of the group's corporate organization.
PayPal payments were always directed to a Tea Party Nation bank account, not a personal account, he said.
Smith and others might have thought they were misdirected because his wife, who keeps records for the company, set up the account to send e-mail confirmations of transactions directly to her, Phillips said.
"We just didn't think about it," he said.
Phillips said he founded Tea Party Nation as a for-profit company mainly for philosophical reasons.
The for-profit corporation lets him avoid disclosure requirements that might have forced him to reveal the identity of donors, who then could be subjected to harassment for their views, Phillips said.
"I'm a capitalist, but my vision for Tea Party Nation has always been to start it up as something that will offer products or services and the revenues that we receive from that will be used to support our other activities," Phillips said.
"When we were starting this up, a number of people said to me, 'If I'm going to make a donation, I would prefer to make it to a for-profit.' "
As for the NBC News story on Phillips' personal finances, the network reported that Phillips said he has paid off the tax liens, but would not comment on the bankruptcy filing.
Media Invites Limited
Media access to the convention also emerged as a point of contention with the group last week.
Tea Party Nation initially planned to bar media coverage, but Palin objected and requested her speech be open to the public. In response, the group announced that it would offer media credentials only to Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, Breitbart.com and World Net Daily. All are seen to some extent as having conservative-leaning outlooks.
Palin told Fox News last week she "will not financially be gaining anything" from her appearance at the convention.
News of the limited media coverage, combined with the financial structure of Tea Party Nation, led some outspoken conservatives, including former Tennessee GOP spokesman Bill Hobbs, to criticize the convention.
"The Tea Party movement needs to be open and transparent just like they want their government to be," said Hobbs, who added that he supports the ideals of the grass-roots movement.
Phillips said the initial plan to bar the media reflected the convention's original purpose as an opportunity for Tea Party activists to network and get training.
But as the event garnered more attention, Phillips said his organization had to figure out ways to handle an onslaught of media requests without having the event swamped by reporters.
"This thing has just exploded on us in the last 10 days," he said.
Video feeds and pool arrangements to give more media access to the event are under consideration, Phillips said.
Blackburn To Attend
The negative publicity won't deter Blackburn, the Brentwood Republican who attended Tea Party rallies last year and announced she is still on board for next month's convention.
Blackburn's role will be to introduce Palin at the convention.
"It isn't about the sponsors; it's about the attendees," Blackburn spokesman Claude Chafin said. "Just because people are for-profit doesn't mean that the attendees are any less grass-roots than they would have been otherwise. The congressman has spoken at Tea Parties and we hope to again."
Marcus Pohlmann, a political science professor at Rhodes College, complimented the Tea Party movement for earning the support of those who had been turned off to government and politics. But he said it will have to build a specific platform if it wants to influence the process going forward.
"The Tea Party seems to be rallying emotional support in a way the Republican Party is not," Pohlmann said.
"It could become a MoveOn.org (a Democratic grass-roots campaign). It could even become more than that. But in order to do that, it must become more specific on where it stands on the policy issues of the day."
Pohlmann also questioned whether charging so much to attend the first convention and banquet runs counter to the populist ideals of the original Boston Tea Party, from which the movement takes its name.
"It doesn't sound like much of a populist approach," Pohlmann said. "When I think of the Boston Tea Party, I think of populism — the little guy standing up to the bailouts and to the big corporations."
http://www.tennessean.com/article/2...6/Tea+Party+turmoil+erupts+as+volunteers+quit
The national Tea Party convention scheduled to take place in Nashville next month — featuring Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker — fell into turmoil last week.
Tea Party Nation, the locally based group organizing the sold-out event, got its first taste of trouble Tuesday when a key volunteer announced he and others had quit the group. They claimed the event's $549 ticket price was designed to make a profit off the popularity of the grass-roots campaign.
By week's end, the national media were putting intense pressure on founder Judson Phillips after Tea Party Nation announced that only five, right-leaning media outlets would be allowed access to the event.
NBC News reported Friday, and The Tennessean confirmed, that Phillips, a Franklin attorney, had filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in 1999 and faced three federal tax liens since 2004 totaling more than $22,000.
Phillips said in an interview with The Tennessean that Tea Party Nation had been set up as a for-profit company but denied allegations of profiteering.
"We're running a fairly tight margin," he said. "Right now, if everything plays out the way we want it to be, we're going to break even."
The convention is planned for Feb. 4-6 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. In addition to Palin, Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann are on the agenda to speak.
The fact that Tea Party Nation would be structured as a for-profit organization prompted its former webmaster, Kevin Smith, to explain his decision to leave the organization in a blog post last week that continues to ripple across the Internet.
Smith said the Tea Party began as a grass-roots campaign favoring small government and responsible spending and was being overrun by the national Republican Party looking to use the fervor of Tea Party supporters to its advantage.
"It's become clear to me that Judson and his for-profit Tea Party Nation Corporation are at the forefront of the GOP's process of hijacking the Tea Party movement," Smith wrote in his blog.
"What began as cries for true liberty and a public showing of frustration with the big government policies of both Democrats and Republicans has now been co-opted by mainstream Republican demagogues determined to use this as their 2010 election platform."
In response to Smith's post, one of Tea Party Nation's top sponsors, the American Liberty Alliance, pulled out of the convention.
The Alliance said in a news release it was concerned with how Tea Party Nation was organized. Those who signed up for the convention paid for their tickets through a PayPal account set up through Phillips' wife's e-mail address.
"To be clear, the for-profit model has its place in the movement. Many, many groups in the movement operate this way," American Liberty Alliance's executive director Eric Odom wrote in a statement.
"But these groups should always have boards and oversight, and should never, ever process donations through personal PayPal accounts."
Phillips said disgruntled volunteers have misunderstood how proceeds would be used and the structure of the group's corporate organization.
PayPal payments were always directed to a Tea Party Nation bank account, not a personal account, he said.
Smith and others might have thought they were misdirected because his wife, who keeps records for the company, set up the account to send e-mail confirmations of transactions directly to her, Phillips said.
"We just didn't think about it," he said.
Phillips said he founded Tea Party Nation as a for-profit company mainly for philosophical reasons.
The for-profit corporation lets him avoid disclosure requirements that might have forced him to reveal the identity of donors, who then could be subjected to harassment for their views, Phillips said.
"I'm a capitalist, but my vision for Tea Party Nation has always been to start it up as something that will offer products or services and the revenues that we receive from that will be used to support our other activities," Phillips said.
"When we were starting this up, a number of people said to me, 'If I'm going to make a donation, I would prefer to make it to a for-profit.' "
As for the NBC News story on Phillips' personal finances, the network reported that Phillips said he has paid off the tax liens, but would not comment on the bankruptcy filing.
Media Invites Limited
Media access to the convention also emerged as a point of contention with the group last week.
Tea Party Nation initially planned to bar media coverage, but Palin objected and requested her speech be open to the public. In response, the group announced that it would offer media credentials only to Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Townhall.com, Breitbart.com and World Net Daily. All are seen to some extent as having conservative-leaning outlooks.
Palin told Fox News last week she "will not financially be gaining anything" from her appearance at the convention.
News of the limited media coverage, combined with the financial structure of Tea Party Nation, led some outspoken conservatives, including former Tennessee GOP spokesman Bill Hobbs, to criticize the convention.
"The Tea Party movement needs to be open and transparent just like they want their government to be," said Hobbs, who added that he supports the ideals of the grass-roots movement.
Phillips said the initial plan to bar the media reflected the convention's original purpose as an opportunity for Tea Party activists to network and get training.
But as the event garnered more attention, Phillips said his organization had to figure out ways to handle an onslaught of media requests without having the event swamped by reporters.
"This thing has just exploded on us in the last 10 days," he said.
Video feeds and pool arrangements to give more media access to the event are under consideration, Phillips said.
Blackburn To Attend
The negative publicity won't deter Blackburn, the Brentwood Republican who attended Tea Party rallies last year and announced she is still on board for next month's convention.
Blackburn's role will be to introduce Palin at the convention.
"It isn't about the sponsors; it's about the attendees," Blackburn spokesman Claude Chafin said. "Just because people are for-profit doesn't mean that the attendees are any less grass-roots than they would have been otherwise. The congressman has spoken at Tea Parties and we hope to again."
Marcus Pohlmann, a political science professor at Rhodes College, complimented the Tea Party movement for earning the support of those who had been turned off to government and politics. But he said it will have to build a specific platform if it wants to influence the process going forward.
"The Tea Party seems to be rallying emotional support in a way the Republican Party is not," Pohlmann said.
"It could become a MoveOn.org (a Democratic grass-roots campaign). It could even become more than that. But in order to do that, it must become more specific on where it stands on the policy issues of the day."
Pohlmann also questioned whether charging so much to attend the first convention and banquet runs counter to the populist ideals of the original Boston Tea Party, from which the movement takes its name.
"It doesn't sound like much of a populist approach," Pohlmann said. "When I think of the Boston Tea Party, I think of populism — the little guy standing up to the bailouts and to the big corporations."
http://www.tennessean.com/article/2...6/Tea+Party+turmoil+erupts+as+volunteers+quit
WE PAY THEM. somebody always pays. nothing is free. nothing 'just happens'. Labor, time, accomplishments, all are paid for, one way or the other.
