Tea Partyers

As some of you may have heard, someone named Fred O'Neil has registered the name “TEA Party” as a new political party in the state of Florida. This letter has two purposes.  The first purpose of this letter is to inform the members of the Tampa Tea Party that the leadership of the Tampa Tea Party neither approves of nor supports this new political party and to explain the underlying reasons for this decision.  The second purpose is to encourage everybody in the Tampa Tea party to do likewise.

Executive summary

Both Sharon Calvert and myself want to explicitly state that we do not support a right of center third party because such a third party would split the conservative vote and keep the left in power after November 2010. 

Fred O'Neal, a registered Democrat, has registered a new political party, the "Tea Party."  The name of this party seems to be designed to attract the votes from the 912/Tea Party movement.  As far as we can tell, Fred O'Neal has never been active in the Tea Party/912 movement. 

The logical implications of the current evidence indicates that this newly formed "TEA Party" Party may have been formed for the purpose of destroying the political effectiveness of the Tea Party/912 movement. 

Both Sharon Calvert and myself recommend that the members of the Tampa Tea Party shun the "TEA Party" Party. 

Background

The following sections list what I understand about O'Neal and the “ TEA Party” political party he registered.

The Tea Party/912 Movement has become so successful that it has become attractive to predators

As everybody knows, the Tea Party/912 movement has become an overnight political force. Some polls show that the Tea Party movement has a net positive favorable/unfavorable rating that exceeds that of either the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. This kind of success attracts opportunists who are uninhibited about taking advantage of rapidly growing political movements that they themselves have done little to personally build.

Sharon and myself have been continuously collaborating with Tea Party/912 leaders throughout the state of Florida since these groups emerged this year. We both meet with these leaders on a twice weekly conference call where all of the leaders of the Florida 912/Tea Party groups coordinate their efforts for the coming week. We both attended the Florida Congress meeting in Orlando where the leaders of the Florida 912/Tea Party groups met to discuss strategy for 2010. And, of course, we have organized many events this year and we have attended many events organized by others.

It is noteworthy that neither Sharon nor I have ever encountered Fred O'Neil in any of the above circumstances. In fact neither of us had even heard of him until he registered his new political party, the “TEA Party.”

Why are the leaders of the Tea Party/912 Movement wary of Fred O'Neal and his "TEA Party" Political Party?

In summary, these actions are not seen as those of a good-faith actor.  In fact, they are generally perceived to be consistent with being willfully disruptive; especially the attempt to cause an previously established Tea Party group to abandon its URL. 

Put simply, Fred O'Neil's “TEA Party” Party has the potential to disrupt our attempts to win back this country in November 2010. As a group the 912/Tea Party leaders made a strategic decision to not create a third party (as tempting as that might be) and endeavor instead to rehabilitate the GOP. Rehabilitating the GOP is the underlying reason why we are encouraging all Tea Party/912 members to become GOP precinct committeemen.

The rationale for the decision to not start a third party was simple, introducing a third party would split the right of center vote and result in the Right to losing in November 2010. Put another way, if someone wanted to see to it that the Left is reelected in Nov 2010 then organizing or supporting a third party "TEA Party" is the right way to go about doing it. 

Fred O'Neal has been a registered and active Democrat for the last 17 years

First of all, the Tea Party/912 movement welcomes Democrats who are on our side of the political argument.  That said, this is politics.  Provocateurs are to be expected.  If a long-term Democrat joins our group and then begins causing disruption it is not irrational to suspect that this person is just a provocateur. 

First of all, here is a screenshot of some details on the TEA Party as registered with the FL Division of Elections:registration for the "TEA Party" Political party:

Note the name of the "Chairperson" is Fred O'Neal.  Also note the home address.   Now here is Fred O'Neal's voter registration details on a voter-lookup page:

Note that this Democrat's name is Fred O'Neal.  Also note that he shares the same home address as the Fred O'Neal who is the chairperson of the "TEA Party" Political Party.  Therefore the founder of the "TEA Party" Political Party is a Democrat.

Also note that he has been a Democrat for 17 years.  Of course it is possible that O'Neal might protest that he is only a nominal Democrat and actually votes Republican.  Well, that might be possible during the general election but examining his voting history shows that he is a reliable voter in the primaries.  Since voters are only permitted to vote in their own party's primary this indicates that Fred O'Neal was definitely voting Democrat, at least during the primaries .

Since generally only the most committed of voters will vote in the primaries it is reasonable to infer that O'Neal is a partisan Democrat. 

Summary

The leadership of the Tampa Tea Party strongly recommend that all member shun the "TEA Party" Political Party because we believe that it is actually intended to be political Judas Goat leading the Right to electoral defeat in November 2010. 

John Hendrix

Sharon Calvert

Organizers of the Tampa Tea Party