Cleveland Tea Party Patriots in the Plain Dealer

The Cleveland Plain Dealer political reporter Mark Naymik wrote a piece about Tea Parties in the OH area. (Click Here for whole article) Naymik's story was not one of the usual "hit" pieces we see being published in many other newspaper's -- but there are a few things we want to comment on and that I want to clear up.....

In the side bar of the online version where a description for some of the groups' it states....

"The groups' leanings are shaped by the individuals who lead them and different issues, such as gun control, immigration and state sovereignty."

Cleveland Tea Party Patriots

Run by Ralph King of Bedford who is frustrated by Republican Party politics but encourages members to win internal party positions to build new coalitions. He is leading an effort to send the Ohio Republican Party a truck load of plastic lemons to protest their leadership.

First, the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots have four coordinators. We, the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots are part of the Tea Party Patriots, the national group that started with the original Tax Day Tea Party events held across the U.S. last year in February & April. There are 10 Tea Party Patriot groups in OH and we all strictly adhere to only three issues; Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and the Free Market Concept.

As a Tea Party Patriot group(s), we do not and will not endorse or support candidates. The reason -- nobody should be told who to vote for! We ask our members and all citizens to be free-thinking, sovereign minded, educated voters. When candidates approach us for endorsements, we tell them as a group --we give out no endorsements -- if they earn the support of our individual members, they can get no better endorsement than our members banging the pavement for them.

We have been hosting educational programs outlining the structures of both the Democrat and the Republican party for our members. It is explained, for those interested, getting on internal party committees of both parties is one of the tools we must use to advance public policy consistent with our three core values. For it is on these "party" committees that the candidates and policies are selected and advanced. Without a voice in these committees -- it clear we will continue to be left choosing between the lesser of two evils on election day.

We cannot speak on the doings of other Tea Party and/or conservative groups in OH, other than saying there are many good groups doing a lot of great things. We routinely network and work together with these groups and cannot say enough good things about most of them. You will find the links to many of these groups on the right side bar of our blog.

In the Cuyahoga County area the groups we work closest with are the Cleveland 9.12 Project and the Westlake 9.12. Our groups share many of the same members. As they did last year, both of these groups will be helping promote, support and plan our upcoming 2nd Annual Tax Day Tea Party on April 15th on Mall C in downtown Cleveland.

Describing a recent Republican Party of Cuyahoga County (RPCC) event and the convenient "new" so-called conversion of the Republicans, Naymik wrote the following....

To promote the Rally for Freedom, Cuyahoga County Republican Party Chairman Rob Frost reached out to Tea Party activists, including Ralph King, who runs the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots.

Frost asked him to attend and to promote the event. But King did little, instead promoting and attending a Tea Party event on the same day at Cleveland's Beachland Ballroom, which included conservatives promoting a barter system and the creation of state militias.

"The Republican Party is thumbing their nose at all our groups," says King, who encourages people to run for internal party posts to build a new coalition. "The Republican Party thinks it's their job to pick candidates, and they refuse to listen to the people. As far as them trying to embrace us, that's a crock."

Frost says the Cuyahoga County GOP wants Tea Party activists, independent voters, libertarians and "and others who feel left out of the process."

But he acknowledges that the party is trying to show off a new side of its politics to pull people in.

First and most importantly -- the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots do not support in any way, shape or form creating a private militia or barter system. Personally, I feel this is foolish and distracts from the important tasks at hand. Taking up arms against our own government is something I could never support. The ammunition we will be using in effecting this change are free-thinking, sovereign minded & educated voters. We believe there is no weapon stronger than an awakened & informed American public.

The Power of Coalitions event I spoke at was sponsored & hosted by a new conservative group -- Cuyahoga County for Liberty (CC4L). This was not a Tea Party or Tea Party event. We were there to promote the CTPP and support CC4L and the initiative they will be starting in this area to outlaw red light cameras. We were not there in support of starting a militia or a barter system.

The reasons for the CTPP not promoting or being part of the Rally for Freedom event is simple -- we are not a partisan group and we do not exist for promoting partisan events. I graciously thanked Rob Frost for the invite and wished him the best of luck.

Proving that this was the right decision -- we heard from many people inside the RPCC how there was much arm-twisting that ALL the Statewide GOP candidates be allowed to speak at the event. Initially, the RPCC only wanted to allow the party favorites, meaning endorsed, candidates to speak. So it was actually party insiders expressing their anger & Naymik's inquiring about who would be speaking at the event that prompted the RPCC's sudden change in allowing all the GOP Statewide candidates to speak.

And as expected, all the candidates share Tea Party values and are Tea Partiers in their own right! Well, isn't that special! Even the tax-loving -- John "Mr. CAT Tax" Husted -- claims he is a Tea Party person. The problem is Husted and his love of taxes would be on the British side.

In all fairness, we have not had the problems with Rob Frost as we have had with other GOP County Chairman and/or the Lemon-like leadership of Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine and his ORP State Central Committee.

In Ohio, for the most part the ORP is just thumbing their elephant trunks at all of the Tea Party Patriot, Tea Party, 9.12 and other conservative groups. This can be clearly seen by the actions they have exhibited during their backroom bantering, deal making and the political version of musical chairs regarding the ORP endorsement proceedings. (Click here for more on the ORP).

So, we will end this post with a challenge for all the endorsed candidates in the GOP Primaries for State office races in OH to put their candidacy where their mouth is. We want them to show by actions -- not by platitudes and political double speak that they embrace the Tea Party movement.

Knowing many, if not all, the Tea Party Patriot groups, Tea Party groups & 9.12 groups in OH were almost unanimously against the back room deals made during the ORP endorsement proceedings for State offices -- we challenge these so-called Tea Party loving candidates that received the ORP endorsement to refuse accepting and/or refute the ORP endorsement.

If the endorsed candidates truly embrace the Tea Party movement we ask you show us in actions and not words that you really put "We the People" before "We the Party."