Galvanizing Your Opposition

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is coming to town. She’ll be here on Saturday to phone bank for the US Senate campaign of Roy Blunt (R-MO). This has galvanized Missouri Tea Party groups which have issued the following press release (I’ve redacted the phone numbers and email address of the Tea Party contacts):

MISSOURI TEA PARTY GROUPS
28 Groups, Representing over 8,660 Patriots

MISSOURI TEA PARTY GROUPS HAVE NOT ENDORSED ROY BLUNT FOR U.S. SENATE

The following list of Tea Party organizations, from across the state of Missouri, have NOT endorsed Roy Blunt in his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat. When we received a notification that Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a strong supporter of Tea Parties nationally, and the originator of a “Tea Party Caucus” in Washington last week, will be coming to Missouri on July 31st to make phone calls with Roy Blunt from the St. Louis GOP headquarters, and to be a featured speaker at a Blunt fundraiser that night, we were shocked. We believe she has been grossly misled if she understands him to be a Missouri Tea Party candidate.

Tea Party participants believe the spending in Washington has to STOP. Roy Blunt voted for TARP and Cash for Clunkers. For Michele Bachmann to come to Missouri and give the impression that all the Missouri Tea Parties support Roy Blunt is an abomination of everything we have been standing up for. “Most Tea Party supporters I know will be baffled by Michele Bachmann helping someone with a record like Roy Blunt before the primary vote,” said Jedidiah Smith, a Tea Party leader in Franklin County, Missouri.

“Missouri Tea Party groups are proud of our steadfast position not to endorse candidates and to remain independent of political parties. We encourage all voters to examine the voting records, positions, and values of all candidates, to determine whether they promote the core values of the Tea Party Movement: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally-limited government, and free markets.” said Eric Farris, a Tea Party leader in Branson, Missouri. There are sixteen candidates running for the Missouri U.S. Senate seat and the consistent message, among Tea Party participants, has been to check each of them out before voting in the August 3rd Primary.

Signed by the following Tea Parties (# of members), Contact Person:

Branson Tea Party Coalition (246), Eric Farris
Buffalo Tea Party (102), Paul Beaird
Callaway Tea Party (52), Jeff Kauffman
Cape County Tea Party (150), Tom Young
Cass County (10), Dan Duckworth
Cassville Tea Party (100), Judith Mouser
Cooper County Tea Party (75), Daryl Bowles
Eureka Tea Party (497), Jeannine Huskey
Franklin County Patriots (860), Jedidiah Smith
In God We Trust PAC, Kansas City (500+), Kristi Nichols
In God We Trust Tea Party, SW MO (40), Greg Bartlett
Jefferson County Tea Party (600+), Ken Horton
Johnson County Patriots (100+), Jeff Merrick
K & N Patriots (O’Fallon) (650+), Janet Allquist
MID MO 9/12 Patriots (Columbia) (100), Chris O’Conner
Missouri As A Mom (415), Jacquelyn Ehrlich, Missouri ChairMOM, www.asamom.org
*Missouri Sovereignty Project (1,825)
Patriots of the Constitution (Salem) (167), Jan Abney
St. Joseph Tea Party (185), Maggie Siegmund
Show Me Patriots, Greater St. Louis Area (360), Cindy McGee, www.showmepatriots.org
Sikeston Tea Party (400), Pam Yant
Springfield 912ers (203), Mike Crites
Springfield MO Tea Party (457), Janice Ellison
Sullivan 912 Group (50), Sandra Davidson
SW MO Conservative Network (Joplin) (280+), John Putnam
We Surround Them 912 Project, Jefferson Cnty & S. St. Louis Cnty (126), Rick Blowers
We The People . . . St. Francois County (55), Tammy Holmes
912 We The People of Monroe County MO (55), Ron & Martha Staggs

Individual Statements from Various Groups Follow:

Eureka Tea Party
“Eureka Tea Party believes that for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to form a “Tea Party Caucus,” and then openly endorse a Missouri candidate (Roy Blunt) before the Primary Election as a candidate believed to be representing the views of the tea party movement, is extremely premature on her part. She is either working directly for the GOP as an endorser for GOP backed Republican candidates, or she is completely misinformed and/or attempting to mislead the tea party groups. The Republican Party, or any other political party here in Missouri, should not assume that everyone in this patriot uprising will follow their lead when told to do so, as we are more informed and aware of who we believe will represent the people by adhering to state sovereignty, fiscal conservatism, and the U.S. Constitution. Candidates should not be promoted based solely on popular endorsement by other politicians and special interests, but by the people reviewing candidates’ past performance in office and their stand on current political issues.

We believe that Michele Bachmann is risking the status of her “Tea Party Caucus” by taking this stand in Missouri before the Primary Election on August 3rd, and respectfully ask her to reconsider by NOT promoting Roy Blunt as the “tea party” choice.”

In God We Trust PAC
“In God We Trust PAC has not endorsed and would never endorse Roy Blunt for the U.S. Senate. Roy Blunt does not stand for the conservative values and principles the Tea Party movement represents. He is a career politician and Washington insider who has sold out his constituents for special interest money. Roy Blunt is, in fact, what we are endeavoring to “purge” out of Washington. Michele Bachman is a woman of integrity, character, and honor. She needs to remove herself from this venue and gather more details of the “real” tea party groups and candidates.”

Jefferson County Tea party
“Big spending Republicans that voted to increase the size and scope of Government during the Bush years are part of the problem, not the solution. During the Bush years Congressman Blunt voted for the Prescription Drug Bill, bloated farm bills, TARP, and many other spending bills that grew the size of the government. Recently, he voted for Cash For Clunkers (4 Billion Dollars) and then voted a 2nd time to increase the program by another 2 BILLION dollars. Congressman Blunt and President Obama are two of the top ten recipients of donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were the main cause of the financial meltdown. If posing as a fiscal conservative were a crime, Roy Blunt would be on top 10 wanted list. The Tea Party loves Michele Bachman, but we feel she has been seriously misinformed if she thinks the tea party is a supporter of Congressman Blunt.”

K & N Patriots
“K & N Patriots has not endorsed Roy Blunt for the U.S. Senate. Any representation that we have is incorrect. We would view it as engaging in “the same old politics” and an attempt to deliberately mislead our members and Tea Party voters at large. K & N Patriots does NOT endorse or campaign for candidates. In addition it is our opinion that those who believe in Tea Party values do not admire strategies “cooked up” by slick, overpaid political consultants with the objective of misleading or fooling voters. That’s precisely what Tea Party organizations and their supporters are trying to GET RID OF! We would advise Michele Bachmann and all candidates who agree with independent conservative values to avoid being involved in such activities.”

MID MO 9/12 Patriots
“Roy Blunt is not a true Conservative. He is the Number one taker of donations from Freddie and Fannie, he voted for TARP, and convinced other Republicans to vote for TARP as well. He is not a true Conservative and he has not and will continue to not uphold our Constitution, both State and U.S. We sponsor no candidates but if you were to sponsor someone, (name deleted) is the one to sponsor. The Tea Party is not the Republicans to claim. This is the citizen’s movement and we will not stand for any politicians to try to use us for their own political gain.”

Missouri As A MOM
“The Missouri As A Mom organization does NOT endorse any candidate nor any political party.
Our Mission Statement includes the 9 Principles and 12 Values of all 9/12 groups.
We support “Boldly speaking out against deficit spending” as stated in our Mission Statement. Law makers who voted FOR “TARP” and “Cash for Clunkers” are NOT against deficit spending.
It would be in Rep. Bachmann’s best interests to remain NEUTRAL until after the August 3rd Missouri Primary since she herself has a record of voting against deficit spending.”

*Missouri Sovereignty Project
“The Missouri Sovereignty Project supports all candidates who sign its pledge to uphold and support the Bill of Rights’ 10th Amendment. Both Republican Senate candidates Mr. Blunt and Mr. Purgason have done so. If a poll of over 720 of our 1,800 members and the voting public (http://www.missourisovereigntyproject.com/us-senate.html) is a testament to which of these gentlemen more closely adheres to constitutional principles, Mr. Purgason, by a 71% to 29% margin, would be their choice.

“We have a tremendous amount of respect for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and look to her steadfast national leadership in the Tea Party cause. The Missouri Sovereignty Project is perplexed that she would publically participate in campaign efforts on behalf of Mr. Blunt, thereby rejecting the potential Tea Party credentials of all other candidates. We join Tea Party groups across the great state of Missouri in asking Ms. Bachmann to reconsider her August 31 fundraising efforts for Mr. Blunt.”

Sikeston Tea Party
“We, in the Sikeston Tea Party, do not endorse or even want Roy Blunt for our next Senator. We do not appreciate Michelle Bachman coming here as a representative of the Tea Party and making that endorsement and campaigning for him. She does not represent the views of the Sikeston Tea Party on this issue.”

Springfield 912ers
“We invited Roy Blunt to attend a Missouri U.S. Senatorial Candidate Townhall, along with all other 17 candidates in the race. Mr. Blunt did not respond.”

SW MO Conservative Network
“We invited Congressman Blunt to several of our meetings over the last year and were told by his scheduler that he would not attend a candidate forum until after the Primary.”

Sullivan 912 Group
“Our word for those who are endorsing others: One should really check out the candidate’s representation of his area and the desire of the constituents before jumping on board to endorse one of their playmates. That makes grassroots wonder if we should maybe look into our “misplaced” trust a little more thoroughly. One who uses grassroots tea party groups and our strength, to push forward their own agenda, and to build public support for their cause, is not playing with the standard routine playmates. We are more knowledgeable of the game and know when we are being hoodwinked. This is not to say that, occasionally your cause may fit with our agenda. We may like the message, but not support the messenger. Thanks, but no thanks.”

I was surprised that the St. Louis Tea Party was not listed. It’s our policy to never endorse candidates, but rather to ask candidates to endorse the principals of the Tea Party.

I think that Blunt was trying to burnish his reputation with Tea Party voters by inviting Bachmann to town. Perhaps it will help him. I know that it’s galvanized his primary opposition. Kristi Nichols didn’t waste any time getting her name on the press release above. Like Kristi, Chuck Purgason has garnered the endorsements of Tea Party groups from that list.