Photo: Fellow Tea Party "Patriots" In Syracuse NY
Greenwich First Selectman Peter Tesei Ignores Party Leaders Who Advise Him To Avoid Being Lumped With The Tea Party Crowd.
As Tax Day approaches, local Tea Party activists are uniting to voice the message they've been honing for more than a year: It's time to reduce the size of government, and honor the Constitution.
The Tea Party Express' third cross-country tour brings activists to Greenwich Town Hall on Thursday.
The "Just Vote Them Out!" tour is now going to roll into Greenwich.
So far, the local movement's success is in the eye of the beholder.
Some Greenwich Republican Town Committee leaders are disturbed that some members have had contact with a gentleman named Stewart Rhodes.
Mr. Rhodes does not seem like an extremist. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a former U.S. Army paratrooper and congressional staffer. He is not at all secretive.
Often he can be found sitting at Connecticut Tea Party rallies , handing out fliers and selling T-shirts for his organization, the Oath Keepers.
Mr, Rhodes says he has 6,000 dues-paying members, active and retired police and military, who promise never to take orders to disarm U.S. citizens or herd them into concentration camps.
Mr. Rhodes recently told a Newsweek reporter, "We're not a militia." Oath Keepers do not run around the woods on the weekend shooting weapons or threatening the violent overthrow of the government. Their oath is to uphold the Constitution and defend the American people from dictatorship.
But by conjuring up the specter of revolution or counterrevolution is Mr. Rhodes adding to the threat of real violence?
The Oath Keepers are "a particularly worrisome example of the 'patriot' revival.
Many of the Oath Keepers think that the federal government as part of a plot to impose 'one-world government' on liberty-loving Greenwich residents.
These right wing Connecticut "Patriot" groups are "roaring back" after years out of the limelight.
These Connecticut and national "Patriot" groups were notorious in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the patriot groups seemed to fade away under the shadow of 9/11, but hard times and the nation's first African-American president seem to have brought about a revival in the state of Connecticut.
PLEASE SEE:
Tea Party flag will not fly at Connecticut Capitol
(NECN: Brian Burnell, Hartford, Conn.) - It's the flag that won't fly. Tea Party Patriots in Connecticut are fuming over their on again/off again plans to fly their flag over the state capitol. They say state lawmakers' objections are treading on their rights.
This is the Gadsden flag and it has a rich history. It was among the first symbols adopted by the US Marine Corps in 1775. It has also been taken up by Tea Party Patriots across the country as their symbol. Tea Party Patriots in Connecticut got permission to fly the flag over the state capital on April 9. That permission has now been rescinded because of the political nature of the Tea Party Patriots.
Tanya Bachand, CT Tea Party Patriots: "It's not a political statement. It's a statement of honoring the military. Honoring the scrappy American spirit that... Don't Tread on Me... its more than a motto. It's a way of life for the American people. In fairness, though, it did become coupled with candidates announcing their candidacy. It did."
The patriots planned to introduce some 30 candidates for office after the flag raising. Since permission was pulled they offered to drop that portion of the program but the Capital Police still say 'no'.
Bill Shields, CT Tea Party Patriots: "I just can't come up with any other explanation other than Mickey Lawlor not liking the Tea Party flag."
That would be state representative Mike Lawlor who says he is not saying the flag should not be flown. After all... the Te Party Patriots did do their homework on flying flags at the capital.
Rep. Mike Lawlor, D-East Haven, CT: "I think its a little bit inappropriate given the significance of that particular spot but, I mean, it apparently fit within the rules. Its fine with me. I mean, they played by the rules. Going forward we may have to rethink the rule because I think the whole point it do avoid controversial, partisan statements being run up the flag pole at the state capital."
The Tea Party Patriots are a persistent bunch. Permission or not a Gadsden Flag will be flying on the capital grounds on Friday.
Tanya Banchand, CT Tea Party Patriots: "We're going to go anyway. We have another flag that's a sister flag of the one that the Capital Police have that we supplied to them and we're going to go up anyway. We're going to raise the flag ourselves on our own flag pole and we're not going to let this one go."
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