Remember that Tea Party Express endorsement that candidate for U.S. Senate Mark Neumann got a few days ago? There’s a central Wisconsin Tea Party group that would like you to know that not only did they NOT endorse Neumann, they weren’t even contacted by the CALIFORNIA-based Tea Party Express. Also, they do not approve of the “ugly tone” of the Wisconsin GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
Do they not take humor in Hovde tossing out the “commie” slur or Tommy threatening to beat up a liberal or two?
Tea Party Express is best know for their bus tours and was founded by Sal Russo of the PR firm Russo, Marsh, and Associates in 2009. The PR firm used their new cash cow to reap 2/3 of the money raised July-November 2009 in fees for their own company.
Below: text from a Wausau Tea Party email forwarded to me by a central Wisconsin resident.
“Tea Party Express Endorsement
Dear Wausau Tea Party Supporter:
We wish to address the recent endorsement of U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Neumann by the national organization calling themselves the Tea Party Express. We are not aware of any Wisconsin tea party/patriot groups with whom the Tea Party Express first consulted prior to this endorsement. They did not discuss their decision with the Wausau Tea Party.
The Tea Party Express website states that their organization is headquartered in Sacramento, CA and in no way does this group represent the majority of tea party supporters or groups in Wausau or in Wisconsin.
As a 501c4 organization, the Wausau Tea Party cannot endorse a candidate in the U.S. Senate race. As individual citizens, many tea party supporters volunteer to help the candidates of their choice, which they are free to do.
We are disappointed and frustrated with the ugly tone of this (and other primary) races in Wisconsin. We look to the following words of Governor Sarah Palin earlier this year and suggest that everyone – in particular, Republicans – take some time to examine their behavior and assess whether their conduct is becoming of conservatives and the principles with which we stand.
“The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.” – Governor Sarah Palin, January 27, 2012
Meg Ellefson, Founder
Wausau Tea Party”
More on the Tea Party Express:
Russo, Marsh, and Associates may also be labelled “Russo, Marsh, and Rogers” or “RM+R”. This band of Sacramento astroturf layers worked to discredit peace activist Cindy Sheehan in 2005 under the cover of “Move America Forward” with the “you don’t speak for me, Cindy” tour. They also worked to dissuade theaters from showing Michael Moore’s film, “Fahrenheit 9-11″. (hartwilliams.com has much to learn about the connections)
When the Tea Partiers claim that they are a grassroots movement, it is not true. Mark Neumann ads are backed by Club For Growth, founded by economist Stephen Moore. Moore was an architect in the 1990s of Newt and Dick Armey’s Contract With America.
The Wausau group’s conflict is that they don’t really know what Tea Partiers are all about, but can plainly see that nobody likes Mark Neumann, and is unelectable.