Rally to bring tea bags to East End Beach Wednesday
Historic tea parties, not current political parties, are the focus for organizers of a tax protest planned for Wednesday in Portland.
Part of a national series of such demonstrations modeled after the Boston Tea Party, the events protest taxes and federal spending. The lead organizer insists she is trying to steer clear of political parties while expressing outrage at a grassroots level.
"We are definitely a nonpartisan group of plain, old citizens. We've had enough," said Laurie Brown of Falmouth, who is setting up the T.E.A. Party (Taxed Enough Already) demonstration from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday at the East End Beach off Munjoy HIll.
"We've had a few problems of political parties trying to jump on board," Brown said. "We're nonpartisan, we''re not affiliated with any political party."
The event will include the dumping of tea bags as a symbolic throwback to the Boston Tea Party, the famous colonists' revolt against English taxation without representation. This time around, don't look for any tea to end up in Casco Bay, Brown said.
"Not in the harbor because we don't want to pollute," Brown said. "We're going to bring a couple of tubs and have a little boat in them and have people ceremoniously put their teabag in."
Conservatives and libertarians largely are the ones who have signed up, based on self-identification on the Internet, Brown said, but she noted that her own disaffection goes back to the Bush administration.
"I'm a registered Republican, but I don't feel like there's anyone I can believe in anymore," Brown said.
"I've had it for a while now," she said, "The Bush administration. ..."
She left the sentence hanging, but later expressed her frustration with President Bush for his spending programs.
"I'm one of those people who have been screaming at the TV, saying, 'Aren't you listening to us?'"
Brown said she spent a week reading the federal stimulus bill passed recently by Congress. She said this legislation further weakened her faith in the federal government. She had heard about the T.E.A. Party movement but was surprised that nobody had organized one in Portland.
"I just started it a week ago. I went online to find a Portland T.E.A. Party to go to, and there wasn't one," Brown said.
While the rallies stem from mounting concerns about the growth of the federal government, Brown said Wednesday's event will aim for a positive message.
"Our main focus has been cutting the pork, cutting the taxes," she said.
Online, Brown said she has heard from about 90 people who confirmed they will attend Wednesday's rally. If people bring friends, the crowd could swell to over 200, she said.
Scheduled to coincide with tax day, Portland's tea party is one of three happening in Maine. In Augusta, demonstrators plan to gather from 5:30-7 p.m. at Capital Park. In Bangor, the T.E.A. Party will take place from 1-3 p.m. in front of that city's federal courthouse.
Eric Odom, director of the Don't Go Movement and administrator of TaxDayTeaParty.com, said the tea party movement has taken off across the nation.
"We have 700 confirmed events, fully confirmed, we've actually spoken with the organizers," he said.
The Don't Go Movement started in response to a congressional energy debate when offshore oil drilling was on the table, Odom said. Advocates of increased domestic oil production wanted to send the message to members of Congress: "Don't go on vacation ... stay and have a debate on the legislation." The Don't Go online coalition now has taken on the role of helping coordinate the T.E.A. Party movement, something that conservative radio and TV talk show host Glenn Beck has championed as well. Odom said he aims to facilitate the rallies but leave it to local residents like Brown to organize them.
"It's been extraordinarily bottom up, all 700 of our cities and our organizers have full authority to do whatever they want on the local level," Odom said.
"We're hoping on April 15 that citizens themselves will take the reins," he said.
Brown said the protest in Portland will draw people from across the state, based on response on the Internet. The goal is to focus on the message, she said.
"We're keeping it pretty simple because we really want our message to get across, not the hoopla. People will be bringing signs and showing their support," she said.
For information, visit http://constitutionalrights.ning.com or http://taxdayteaparty.com.
