Freshman Congressman Bill Johnson (OH-6) Faces Challenge in GOP Primary

Freshman GOP Congressman Bill Johnson from Ohio's 6th Congressional District will be facing challenger Victor Smith in the primary this year.  The winner will face off against the winner of the Democrat primary between former Congressman Charlie Wilson and Cas Adulewiz.

Working through the Ohio Project and helping to form Grassroots Ohio, Victor worked tirelessly to help pass Issue 3 the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment.

Getting into office as a result of the GOP sweep across Ohio more so than being elected because of his ability, Congressman Bill Johnson has been a loyal servant to Speaker John Boehner instead of the people he was elected to represent.

Sent to D.C. to stop the out of control spending, Congressman Johnson did just the opposite and voted in support of the Continuing Resolutions, Omnibus Bills and Raising the Debt Ceiling.  Equally, if not more disturbing is that Congressman Bill Johnson voted in support of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA), a new law allowing for Indefinite Military Detention of U.S. Citizens Without Charge or Trial.

While this is NOT an endorsement of any candidate, it should be noted that Congressman Bill Johnson, after ignoring the requests of many of Tea Party / Liberty group members that voted him into office, continually sided with the establishment elected elite & Speaker Boehner. 

From The Marietta Times --

Waterford resident Victor Smith has spent recent months working with The Ohio Project to get the Ohio health care freedom amendment on last November's ballot but in the next few months, he'll be campaigning as a candidate for Ohio's 6th district Congressional seat in the March primary election.

Smith, a Republican, is running along with Republican Incumbent Bill Johnson, of Marietta, Democrat Charlie Wilson, of St. Clairsville and Democrat Cas Adulewicz, of Steubenville.

Smith is a 1965 Warren High School graduate and 1969 graduate of the West Point United States Military Academy in New York. He retired from the military in 1989 and became a registered professional engineer in Ohio, working for several local plants, including DuPont and Union Carbide. He most recently worked as a consulting engineer for Apex Engineering's Marietta office.

Smith said his No. 1 priority is ensuring that the government does not stand in the way of Utica shale drilling.

New horizontal drilling technology is expected to be used in the coming years to tap into Marcellus and Utica shale deposits that are present in Ohio.

"It represents a great boom for our region, our state and our country," he said. "Everything is taken out at 10,000 feet, so this idea that they're going to pollute the groundwater - it doesn't happen."

Smith said he's also concerned about the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law at the end of December by President Barack Obama.

"Sections 1021, 1022 and 1023 need to be taken out," he said. "Those sections give the president the right to define what constitutes a terrorist...and that's not a power you give to any president, period."

Smith said he's also concerned about the debt ceiling, saying it should not be raised. Obama asked Congress Thursday to raise it by $1.2 trillion.

"What Congress is doing right now and they're continuing to do is max one credit card and take another credit card to pay it off with," he said. "Congress, by increasing the debt ceiling, has managed to not kick the can down the road - they're saying 'we don't care, we will never, ever fix this.'"

Santorum Unable to Make the Ballot in 3 Ohio Congressional Districts

This will not help Santorum in his bid for the GOP nomination.  Santorum is the only candidate in the GOP primary that was unable to make the ballot in all the Ohio Congressional Districts...

From the Cleveland PD --

If Rick Santorum is still among the Republican presidential hopefuls come Super Tuesday, he'll compete in Ohio's March 6 primary with a significant disadvantage of his own making.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who surged after a strong finish in last week's Iowa caucuses, failed to qualify for local-level delegates in three congressional districts.

Secretary of State Jon Husted said Wednesday that Santorum did not file for the 6th, 9th or 13th districts. Under the Ohio Republican Party's system for awarding delegates to the national convention this summer, Santorum is ineligible for the districts' nine combined delegates.

Santorum will appear on ballots statewide as a candidate for 18 at-large delegates. Including three from each of Ohio's 16 congressional districts, 66 total delegates will be up for grabs.

Republicans Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney were certified to compete for local-level delegates in all districts and for at-large delegates. More...

NYC Gun Charges Dropped on Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder Mark Meckler

Many of you have heard how there have been several cases where CCW licensed individuals have been arrested in New York while they were attempting to legally declare their weapons.

In mid December of last year (2011) one of our National Coordinators and co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, Mark Meckler, who also holds a CCW permit was arrested at LaGuardia Airport while attempting to declare his weapon that was being transported in a TSA approved travel case. 

Now that Mark has had his day in court he is finally able to speak out on the incident...

From Across the Fence --

On December 15, 2011 at approximately 5:15 a.m., I was at LaGuardia International airport preparing to check in for a flight out of the city.  During a routine check-in, I requested a firearms declaration form from the ticket agent.  It was my intent to declare and check my unloaded firearm.

I purchased this firearm legally, and I have a valid concealed carry permit for it issued in California.  The unloaded gun was locked inside a TSA-approved travel case, and the case was locked inside my checked luggage.  I carry the firearm for my personal safety, having received numerous threats due to my role in the Tea Party Patriots.  I have checked this firearm at airports dozens of times before, all across the country.
As I traveled through LaGuardia that morning, I passed TSA signs telling me I had the right to check this unloaded firearm in my luggage, and that I am required by law to declare the firearm to the ticketing agent. This is exactly what I did.

The ticketing agent provided me with the declaration form, and I signed it and returned it to her.  She advised me that she would need to call Port Authority police to inspect.  This is not unusual when traveling with a firearm.  Procedures vary from airport to airport, from airline to airline, and even from day to day, and as a law-abiding citizen, I have always been happy to cooperate.

Unfortunately, that day, I didn’t realize that I was about to cross paths with New York City’s anti-Second Amendment stance.  Upon showing my case and the weapon to the officer who arrived on the scene, and after a few brief questions, she advised me that she was placing me under arrest for violating New York City’s firearms laws.

To say that I was stunned would be an understatement.  I am from a law enforcement family.  My mother is a retired correctional officer, and I have spent my life around folks from the law enforcement community.  I have always considered myself a law-abiding citizen.  I have never been arrested before.  I have never been in police custody.  I can never say those things again.  On December 15^th, 2011, I was arrested, handcuffed at the ticket counter, and taken to a waiting squad car for transport to the Port Authority Police station at LaGuardia.

I was subsequently transferred, in handcuffs, to the Queens Central booking facility in New York City.  I was charged with felony possession of a firearm with intent to do harm.  I spent the day in Queens…in jail.

It was a nightmare that I can scarcely describe to you.  Until you have felt the handcuffs on your wrists, and until you have heard that cell door close behind you, it is impossible to understand what it means to actually lose your liberty.  And since that day, my liberty has been at stake, and because of that threat, based upon the advice of counsel, I’ve been unable to publicly speak about this case.  Today the silence ends.

I am pleased to announce that the criminal case against me has been dropped.  Although I was originally charged with a violent felony, the case against me was resolved with a plea to “disorderly conduct. ” Disorderly Conduct is not a felony or a misdemeanor, or even a crime.    The facts underlying my plea are that I declared a legally purchased, properly licensed and unloaded firearm at an airport counter.  Apparently, much to my surprise, in New York City, it is considered “disorderly conduct” to exercise your constitutionally guaranteed, Second Amendment rights.

Strangely, now that the case against me is over,  the authorities refuse to return my firearm.  There is no law that allows them to confiscate a weapon in this manner.  They simply say “no” when you ask for your weapon back.  This is apparently their “policy.”  It is done regularly in New York.  This is government robbery.  Not only is New York City anti-Second Amendment rights, but they are depriving citizens of their legally owned property.  My lawyer has advised me that I can attempt to pursue the return of my firearm, but that to do so would cost me more than the firearm is worth.  I am not alone in facing this tyranny.  It has happened to hundreds of people in the New York metro area.  My lawyer, Brian Stapleton, has handled over 400 of these cases himself, so he is an expert on the subject.

While the end of this case is the end of a horrible nightmare for my family and I, it is not the end of this fight.  It is just the beginning.  Since the original incident, I have received more emails, phone calls, texts and tweets of support than you can possibly imagine.  To those people, I want to say heart-felt thanks on behalf of my entire family.  We have come to know that we are not alone in this particular fight.  Apparently, this happens to hundreds of people per year in New York City.  And New York City is not alone in its attack on our rights.  This sort of Constitutional abuse, Second Amendment and otherwise, is taking place all over the nation.  And we as citizens must stand against it.  We must protect our rights, or we will lose them.

Many of you know me as someone who is willing to stand and fight for self-governance in this country.   I’m no politician, and I’m not from a powerful or connected family.   I’m an average American citizen.  And I stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of other Americans who, despite enormous obstacles, and despite the politicians and ruling elite who oppose us, intend to return this country to the bounds of the United States Constitution.

The politicians and ruling elite will try, but we must not let them label us Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal.  We cannot let them make us fight against each other.  Too much is at stake.  We the People are losing our sovereignty to the government.   We the People, must stand and fight for our inalienable rights.

I’m not alone in this fight.  There are so many laws, that no one can possibly know or understand them.  We are all affected.  From the inner city to the farm, from the heartland of America to the coasts, people are under pressure from a government that no longer serves them.   From my home in California, to the farmland of Kansas… from the small towns of South Carolina to the metropolis of New York, every year the legislatures pass thousands of laws and regulations that do not serve the people.

The legislators don’t read the bills they pass, and even if they did, they couldn’t understand them.  Our criminal justice system is terribly broken, and no longer serves the people and the communities it was intended to serve.  Our regulatory system is broken; small businesses and the communities that rely on them crushed under the weight of unnecessary regulation.

We are, step by step, destroying the heart of America.  And we are doing so because we are not governing ourselves according to the Constitution.  It’s up to us…the People.

It’s time to stand for self-governance.  It is time to stand for the plain meaning of the Constitution.  Every word of the Constitution is important, and we must fight for them all.  We must fight for every inch of this country, from the inner city to the smallest rural town.  We are, all of us, first and foremost, American citizens.  We’ve always governed ourselves…and we always intend to.  And we’ve always been willing to stand when freedom is at stake.   It is time to stand…time for all of us, every race, every religion, every gender, every American to stand up and fight for liberty and take responsibility for governing ourselves.

No one should ever have to go through what my family has been through, simply for exercising a fundamental right, specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution.  I am committed to making sure no one does.  And I’m willing to work with anyone…anyone, who agrees that it’s time for the people to govern themselves once again.

Will we as citizens fight for our inalienable right to govern ourselves, or will we quietly allow ourselves to be “governed” into submission by a ruling elite, disconnected from our citizens and our communities?  Only history will tell, but I intend to fight.

(Note:  Every law enforcement officer I dealt with through the process was polite and professional.  They are not to blame for NYC’s unconstitutional or tyrannical behavior.  From my experience, they seem to be good people, just doing a difficult job.).

It should be noted that during this ordeal, Mark had the unwavering support of all the TPP State Coordinators and local coordinators across the country.  While we are happy this is now past, you can rest assured we, The Tea Party Patriots, will stand with an undying resolve in working to restore a much needed respect and adherence to our God given and Constitutionally protected rights for all citizens of this great country.

Oakland County (MI) Democrat Official Sentenced Over Fake Tea Party Candidates

It looks like if the democrats can't win through voter fraud, they are not above candidate fraud...

From the Detroit Free Press --

A former Oakland County Democratic party operative was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay more than $2,500 in fines and court costs for his role in creating “fake” tea party candidates in the 2010 election, in an effort to siphon off support for legitimate Republican candidates.

Jason Bauer, 31, of Waterford said nothing as Oakland County Circuit Court judge James Alexander, a former official with the county’s Republican party, told Bauer what he did was equivalent to murder.

“This is as heinous as someone who tries to kill somebody else,” Alexander said.

Bauer, in November, pleaded no contest to five felony counts of perjury and falsifying notarized documents. He and fellow Democratic official Michael McGuinness were indicted by a one man grand jury in March for attempting to put unknowing residents on the ballot as “tea party” candidates. Investigators said the ruse was an attempt to lure Republican votes, which would dilute the votes for authentic candidates. Click for more...

Running a "Smoker" in a race is not uncommon, but working to get someone on the ballot without their knowledge is taking it to a new low for the left and nothing short of political idiocy.  How these two guys thought they would not get caught is remarkable -- but when dealing with party hacks like this -- anything should be expected.

Here in Ohio I am sure we had some candidates using the "Tea Party" tag to get votes and raise money - the most noted fake Tea Party candidate was current Secretary of State John Husted during the 2010 elections. 

Thankfully most of the grassroots Tea Party groups in this state were already aware that SoS Husted, Ohio's Happy Hypocrite, was anything but a Tea Party candidate. In fact, the only relation John Husted would have with the Tea Party is if he would have been driving the British ship into the Boston Harbor."

If a candidate is a 'real' Tea Party supporter, you will see it in their actions and not their words or glossy handouts.

Learn how to take the Second Step for Health Care Freedom in Ohio

The Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment (OHFA) was a monumental undertaking by many patriotic individuals and grassroots groups across Ohio, and made a huge statement in its success in protecting us from the individual mandate in Obamacare. Now we need to effect a solution.

Now is the time to take the second step for a true healthcare freedom in Ohio with the Ohio Health Care Compact (OHCC).

The Health Care Compact is an agreement between participating states that restores authority and responsibility for health care regulation to member states. The Health Care Compact does not make suggestions on what policies individual states should pursue, but advocates that health care policy should be decided at the state level.

Want to learn more about how the OHCC will work as the second step for health care freedom in Ohio?  Want to learn how you can help Ohio implement market-driven and patient-centered health care reform,through free markets?

Register below and join the Ohio Healthcare Compact Team for an informational conference call tomorrow at 8pm.

To register for an informative conference call on January 11, 2012, 8:00 p.m.

Click Here 

Or email - ohiohcc@gmail.com  RE: RSVP

Once registered, we will send you an agenda and dial in information.

Cordray CFPB Appointment Biggest Government Power Grab Since ObamaCare

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ralph King / TPP State Co-Coordinator

                     Clevelandteaparty@gmail.com

January 9, 2012

Cordray CFPB Appointment Biggest Government Power Grab Since ObamaCare

“Consumer Protection” Czar Not Accountable to Congress or the People

Washington, DC – The Tea Party Patriots, the nation’s largest tea party organization, today sounded the alarm bell over the Obama Administration’s naming of Rich Cordray as Czar of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an action which, according to Investor’s Business Daily “has crossed over from socialistic extremism into lawlessness and, perhaps, impeachability.”

“The White House has usurped the power of the Senate by naming Rich Cordray as Czar of a new government bureaucracy that itself usurps the power of Congress,” said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots.  “Worse, President Obama made this appointment – and two appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – without so much as a criminal or conflict-of-interest background check.”

As reported at WSJ.com, the CFPB is “the most powerful regulatory bureau in our history, it’s totally unaccountable to Congress, it sets its own budget and it is already, by the way, having a chilling effect” on America’s free market system.

“Congress has no power over the CFPB’s budget, and the Senate’s power has just been usurped by this so-called ‘recess’ appointment of Czar Rich Cordray and two unvetted members of the NLRB,” said Martin.  “It’s time for Congress and the Senate to do their jobs – and restore power to the people they were elected to represent.

“It’s time to stop the assaults on America’s Constitution and free market system, and to stand up for the American people – whose voices should be expressed through the Congress and the Senate.”

Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 3,400 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide.  Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.  Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.

CFTC Commences Public Comment Period on NADEX’s Proposed Political Event Derivatives Contracts

From the Commodity Futures Trading Commission --

Washington, DC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on January 3, 2012, issued a letter informing the North American Derivatives Exchange (NADEX) that it has commenced a 90-day review of NADEX’s proposed political event derivatives contracts. The review is based on the possibility that these contracts may involve, among other issues, “gaming or an activity that is unlawful under any State or Federal law.”

The Commission requested that NADEX suspend the listing and trading of its proposed contracts during the review period.

The CFTC has posted NADEX’s submission on its website and is seeking public comment on the proposal during a 30-day comment period. In addition, the Commission is seeking public comment on specific questions related to political event contracts to assist in its evaluation of NADEX’s submission.

The 30-day public comment period ends on February 4, 2012, and the Commission’s 90-day review period ends on April 2, 2012

For NADEX's Submission Click Here

For CFTC's Letter to NADEX Click Here

For Questions related to Political Event Contracts, Click Here

For CFTC Comments On Line Click Here