TEA PARTY
REVOLUTION

Colleen Conley leads the fiercely
Independent Rhode Island organization
determined to make local & state
government fiscally responsible

In early 2009, Tea Party
protests broke out across the
nation in an effort to halt
increased taxation, reign in a nonrepresentative
government, uphold
the US Constitution and protect
the individual freedoms most
Americans holds sacred.
They were quickly dismissed as
Right Wing hate and puppets of
the GOP. But in reality,
the first Tea
Party protest was
organized in
response a George
WBush policy that
Obama extended.
On Feb 27, 2009,
the Tea Party turned
out against the
Troubled Assets
Relief Program (TARP) bailout
bill signed by President George W.
Bush in October 2008 and the
ARRA stimulus bill signed by Pres
Barack Obama 10 days prior to the
protest. The rally was inherently
non-partisan, but Democrats took
it as a shot fired across their bow
because they had regained national
power and it appeared the barbarians
were already at their gate.
Demonstrators, however, were,
and are, incensed by unethical and
irresponsible government spending,
taxation and an inability to
have officials act on their behalf.
In many respects, the actions of
these outraged citizens mirror
those of the pre-American
Revolution Colonists for which the
term “Tea Party” has been coined.
Both were revolting against a
government excessively taxing
them because of a failed foreign
war. The British broke the bank
during the French & Indian Wars
and put the financial burden on
American Colonists through tariffs.
We’re all very familiar with
the price tag of the War on Terror.
In both cases, each government
found excessive and creative ways
to fleece the citizenry. The British
used tea tariffs, among others. The
Obama administration and the
Democrats in power, well, they’re
spending money not even on the
books yet.
What we called “tax-and-spend
liberals” have now become
“spend-then-tax Democrats,” even
though they bill themselves as
“Progressives.”
At the state level, the RI
General Assembly passed a budget
that doesn’t have 0 million in
federal funds to back it up. That
bill will come due. They slashed
aid to cities and towns while
claiming they avoided raising
taxes. Complete bull.
And similar to the 1770s, protesters
are being vilified. With
Democrats firmly entrenched in
the halls of power, the RI Tea
Party, at least, has endured a smear
campaign labeling them Right
Wing reactionaries, racists, and
even terrorists.
Ironically, our elected officials
and liberal media outlets have
adorned the Red Coats aboard this
modern-day Gaspee voyage. Our
neighbors protesting for fiscal
responsibility and Constitutional
freedoms would be the ones wearing
blue and waving Star Spangled
Banners — just to clarify.
And with Rhode Islanders being
as fiercely independent as we are,
our local Tea Party refuses to join
forces with the national movement,
despite having common
ground on issues such as tax relief,
and out of control government
spending. In Rhode Island, statelevel
government has run further
amuck than at any time in the last
50 years.
Colleen Conley, head of our
local rabble rousers, says that
Rhode Island has its own unique
issues, and that being affiliated
with other Tea Parties would taint
the focus on solving problems
unique to the smallest state in the
union.
The politics
of innuendo
Despite RI Tea Party chief
Colleen Conley’s efforts to make
this independence clear to local
media, certain outlets seem to have
gone out of their way to connect
our friends and neighbors to
national-level Right Wing Zealots.
Beginning with an article published
by the Providence Penix in
October, editor David Snarkenberg
characterizes the RI Tea Party as
part of the Conservative Right stating:
“The Tea Party’s opening act,”
was “a sort of adrenaline rush for
the state’s beleaguered right,” and
“Of course, the Tea Party is not the
first conservative uprising in
Rhode Island.”
I’m not sure Dorr’s Rebellion
could be considered “conservative,”
given Thomas Wilson Dorr
led a revolt to gain voting rights in
this state. However, Rhode
Islanders are the only ones to have
overthrown their own state government.
Snarkenberg, of course, throws
in a smattering of Glenn Beck just
in case the reader doesn’t make
these fictitious correlations.
His article comes in the context
of being explicitly told by Colleen
Conley that the local Tea Party has
no national ties, or political leanings.
They are just trying to return
the power of government to the
people and have a voice in fair
representation.
In April, the Boston-based rag
made its position perfectly clear
with the image of a Bible and an
M-16 on the cover and a headline
that read: “Tea is for Terrorism.”
Nice. Real nice guys.
Written by David S. Bernstein,
the lead paragraph says all that
needs to be said:
“A year ago, the Department of
Homeland Security produced a
memo outlining the growing threat
posed to this country from rightwing
extremists. It compared the
situation to that of the early 1990s
— which culminated in the 1995
bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah
Building in Oklahoma City, killing
168.”
The article leaves no room for
error, Tea Parties are dangerous.
And they are, but only to politicians.
The Projo followed suit, oddly,
meekly and erroneously implying
that the Tea Party is in some
degree a racist phenomenon by
repeatedly inferring members are
fat, white, and middle-aged, thus
excluding others groups from their
rank and file. One Projo Op-ed
refers to the Tea Party movement
as the Revolt of the haves. Such
un-bylined pieces are considered
the official position of the paper.
And when liberal columnist
Froma Harrop penned a counterpoint
that states, “Tea Partiers can
rightly complain that they’ve been
unfairly generalized as bigoted,” it
drew a byline as a personal opinion,
distinguishing it from the
Projo’s anti-Tea Party agenda.
With all this jockeying by
“impartial” media organizations,
perhaps we should let Pawtucket
resident Colleen Conley explain
what political action and philosophy
RI Tea Party plans to engage
in. Rather than allow people with
keyboards and newspapers — such
as myself — to tell you what to
think, how about we let Colleen
Conely inform you about what the
RI Tea Party proposes and what
they are fighting for.
JV: Is there anything you'd
like to clarify, or let people know
about the Tea Party movement?
CC: We are your mothers, children's
teachers, mail carriers, servicemen,
doctors, friends, and
neighbors, many of whom have
become politically active for the
first time. We decry excessive government
spending and intrusion
into our lives, and denounce many
of the policies of both political
parties which have brought us to
the economic tipping point. We
believe that government is necessary
and plays a critical role in our
nation; it is the scope of that role
which we challenge. We are nonpartisan
and will support candidates
of any political party which
espouses the principles of fiscal
responsibility, accountability of
elected officials, and adherence to
the US Constitution.
JV: Is the RI Tea Party affiliated
with any other Tea Parties,
nationally or otherwise and do
you receive any GOP funding?
CC: RI Tea is not affiliated with
national Tea Party or other state
Tea Parties. We are completely
independent, non-partisan, and
receive no funding from the GOP.
JV: How does the RI Tea
Party differ from others and in
what ways is it similar?
CC: RI Tea differs from other
tea parties based on our focus on
issues that effect Rhode
Islanders. We have a unique
political culture in RI and RI Tea
strives to address core issues in a
non-partisan manner. We advocate
for fiscal responsibility,
accountability of our elected
leaders, and adherence to
Constitutional principles. While
these are principles which all tea
parties share, our engagement in
RI varies from other states' tea
parties based on the conditions
on the ground here. Our platform
(see www.riteaparty.com)
addresses issues such as pension
reform, unfunded mandates, education
reform, tax and regulatory
structure reform in order to
attract businesses to our state,
legislative and ethics reform, etc.
We are 50th in business friendliness,
have amongst the highest
unemployment rates in the country,
highest per capita spending
per child for education while our
students perform poorly, highest
unfunded pension liability. The
list goes on and on.
JV: What rallies has the RI
Tea Party engaged in during
the last 2 years? Did you join
with other local groups in
protest or political action, and
if so, which and why?
CC: We have engaged in
countless rallies in the past year
and a half, ranging in size form
our large Tax Day Tea Parties at
the State House to smaller rallies
and protests across the state. We
have Tea Party groups in almost
every city and town in RI and
each group rallies their members
to attend local city council and
school committee meetings. We
participate enthusiastically in
Town Hall meetings with our
federal delegates. We frequently
join with other good government
groups in press conferences and
form coalitions in opposition to
various bills presented in the
General Assembly. One example
of such efforts was to prevent the
passage of binding arbitration
and perpetual teacher contracts.
We have worked with OSPRI,
OCG, various local taxpayer
organizations, RISC, RIILE,
small businesses and unions,
depending upon the specific
issue at hand.
JV: What are the particular
issues the RI Tea Party would
like to act on in this political
season and beyond?
CC: Federally, our members
focus on various issues such as
Obamacare, Cap and Trade, and
unsustainable federal spending.
Our primary focus will be to
elect representatives at all levels,
from local to state to federal
level, who espouse the principles
of the Tea Party. We will be the
boots on the ground for the candidates
who we endorse through
our vetting process.
JV: Given the RI Tea party
advocates for responsible government,
do you believe the
General Assembly passed a fiscally
responsible budget? Why
or why not?
CC: No. The budget relies on
federal revenue that may not
come to fruition. The General
Assembly failed to structurally
reduce long-term obligations that
are not sustainable. For example,
the municipal and state defined
benefit pension plans for government
employees. They failed to
provide cities and towns with the
sorely needed tools to reduce
expenses. For instance, the scope
of public-sector collective bargaining
remains the same. It
needs to be narrowed. Rhode
Island needs to identify non-permissive
topics of bargaining
beginning with health insurance
employee cost-share; mandate a
minimum across-the-board cost
share of at least 5 percentage
points of premium or working
rate above the highest cost-share
currently in effect in any publicsector
collective bargaining
agreement. The General
Assembly should repeal binding
arbitration on fiscal matters for
municipalities. The General
Assembly mis-stepped when they
authorized a commission/board
to determine the health insurance
plans for employees of the public
school systems.
JV: The Tea Party has come
out against Deepwater. Why do
you believe this is bad for Rhode
Islanders?
CC: Energy prices would have
to climb 410% over a 20 year period
to make the Deepwater Wind
Project a reasonable investment.
The RI Tea Party is NOT against
renewable energy that is economically
sustainable and that does not
burden our already overtaxed citizens.
We view this as an example
of a venture capital project forced
on Rhode Islanders by the government,
in which the ratepayers, not
the business in question, will bear
the risk of this very shaky proposition.
The "fixed" price from the
Deepwater project is 24.4 cents per
kilowatt escalating 3.5% per year,
resulting in a 46.9 cent price at the
conclusion of the 20 year contract.
The current retail price of 9.2
cents would have to grow by 9% a
year, 3 times the core rate to catch
up with Deepwater's 46.9 cent
ending price.
Taking 0 million dollars out
of the economy, the excess cost of
this contract, it’s taking the money
out of those who create jobs and
will kill well more than 1,000 jobs.
The recent study in Spain where
more money has been spent on
green jobs than in any other country
in the EU, showed that the
enormous public spending and
ratepayer subsidies had cost the
Spanish economy 2.2 jobs for
every 'green job' added. One RI
manufacturer has stated that it's
electricity costs would increase by
0,000 per year. How are we to
attract businesses in this 50th least
business friendly state when we
are placing onerous new costs on
existing companies?
JV: A few print media outlets
seems to have gone out of their
way to characterize the RI Tea
Party, and Tea Parties in general,
as fat, white, middle-aged
males. Is that accurate?
CC: Absolutely not. We are
engaged citizens from all walks of
life, every ethnicity, political party,
and socio-economic group who
recognize that our government
leaders are no longer representing
us, and that their actions have
resulted in unsustainable spending
which threaten the economic viability
of our state and our country.
In RI, most of our Tea Party members
are unaffiliated voters and all
of the board members of the RI
Tea Party are women.
JV: This being nearly the
Fourth of July, what parallels do
you see between today’s Tea
Party and folks who started the
American Revolution?
CC: A visceral belief in individual
rights, responsibilities, and
freedoms, and that man — and as
consequence, society — achieves
the greatest gains for the common
good when government provides a
framework for man to prosper and
then gets out of the way. That
government should work for the
people, not vice versa.
History appears to be repeating
itself. Government has become the
Red Coats and the Tea Party, well,
they’re protesting against tyranny
just like in the 1760s and ’70s.
Think about it for a moment, the
government wouldn’t stop, or listen
to reason, and Rhode Islanders
attacked and burned The Gaspee.
After that, we had a Tea Party in
Boston.
This time around, the Tea Party
plans on burning the political
careers of irresponsible politicians.
They are succeeding in other
states. Hopefully, change will
come to Rhode Island in
November.

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