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Local Tea Party stays home from national convention

Ohio groups back the national movement, but not this weekend’s for-profit convention.

Mike Wilson, candidate for Ohio 28th Congressional District in Hamilton County, says he is the state's first Tea Party candidate.

Contributed photo Mike Wilson, candidate for Ohio 28th Congressional District in Hamilton County, says he is the state's first Tea Party candidate.

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 12:59 AM Thursday, February 4, 2010

HAMILTON — Amid the controversy surrounding a Tea Party convention in Nashville, Tenn., starting today, Feb. 4, is a debate about the future of the national grass-roots movement.

Will it become a political action committee? A third party? Assimilated into the Republican Party, or even overthrowing it?

Mike Wilson, a founder of the Cincinnati Tea Party, on Wednesday declared himself the first Tea Party candidate for the Ohio General Assembly. The Springdale business manager entered the Republican primary for the seat currently held by Rep. Connie Pillich, D-Montgomery.

“I’m an American first and a conservative second and a Republican third,” Wilson said of what differentiates him from other Republicans.

Meanwhile, local Tea Party leaders say they’re not aware of anyone from Butler County going to the Nashville event, primarily because of the cost.

“It was more or less a waste of money. We don’t know what it was going to accomplish,” said Chris Littleton, president of the Cincinnati Tea Party and the Ohio Liberty Council. “The people who are putting it on are doing it to make money.”

It was billed as the first national Tea Party convention but concerns arose when people realized organizer Tea Party Nation is a for-profit company charging roughly $549 for tickets to the three-day event.

“Our group is all volunteers,” said Geoffrey Vrbancic, a leader of the Liberty Twp. Tea Party, one of the largest in the region. “We’re all grass-roots, so we’re not doing it for a profit. We’re doing it out of our passion and desire for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The fact that it’s $549 just seems to be extremely high for what we would expect.”

Several speakers and organizing groups have since backed out of this week’s event at the Opryland Hotel. But former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she plans to remain the headlining speaker.

Littleton said the Ohio Liberty Council is planning its own, much cheaper, educational conference this summer, probably in Columbus.

Future of Tea Party still not clear, local leaders say

With roughly 800, mostly unaffiliated, Tea Party groups across the country, “Everyone has a different concept of what a Tea Party is and what they do,” said Geoffrey Vrbancic, a leader of the Liberty Twp. Tea Party.

And with a controversial national convention in Nashville, Tenn., starting today, Feb. 4, and the first self-defined “Tea Party candidate” announcing a bid for the state House on Wednesday, many are wondering what the fate of the movement will be.

For now, that’s all in the tea leaves, organizers say.

“Tea Parties are young and just trying to establish our identities. Being young, we all have our different identities, and I think it’s starting to coalesce,” Vrbancic said.

And despite the for-profit Tea Party Nation attempting to claim leadership of the movement in organizing the Nashville event, there is no unified command structure.

“You can find 10 groups right now saying, 'We’re the national leaders of the Tea Party,’ ” said Chris Littleton, president of the Cincinnati Tea Party and Ohio Liberty Council — a coalition of more than 50 Tea Parties and similar groups across Ohio.

“No one has leadership at this point, because it all started in people’s houses,” Littleton said.

Even if Tea Party Nation doesn’t work out, Vrbancic said Tea Parties must work together to have any impact. Join, or die, in the words of original revolutionary Benjamin Franklin.

“When I joined the organization, the intent was the only way we’re going to make any progress or have any impact is by organizing on a large scale, which would be on a national level,” Vrbancic said.

Vrbancic’s Liberty Twp. Tea Party boasts that 180 people showed up to its last meeting Monday.

Butler County boasts at least three Tea Parties. The Liberty Twp. group and another in West Chester Twp. are both spinoffs of the Cincinnati Tea Party. The Middletown Tea Party has its origins with the Dayton group. All are part of the Ohio Liberty Council.

“We will try to impact elections in 2010,” said Littleton, explaining that the Ohio Liberty Council has recently acquired a political action committee to funnel money to candidates and issues.

'The way of the Whigs’

While Vrbancic said many Tea Partiers worry about diluting the country’s conservative vote by opposing the GOP with a Tea Party party, they also have many differences with today’s Republican party.

“I think we’re kind of waiting to see what the Republican party is going to do in response (to the movement),” said Vrbancic. “Are they going to go back to their conservative roots, or are they going to continue on the path they’re currently on?”

Before the Tea Party considers forming its own party, Littleton said they are urging their members to get involved in their local Republican parties, running for central committee seats in counties across the state.

“There’s going to be thousands of people across the state that are running in these positions,” he said. “This is the bottom level of the party structure.”

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