Welcome to the First Coast Tea Party
Dear Members: You Should Know About This
As many of you know, the First Coast Tea Party belongs to a Florida Statewide Tea Party Leaders Google Group. We have been together for nearly two years now. The group is a secured, confidential group and we discuss issues, thoughts and frustrations among tea party friends. We do this to coordinate efforts in the state of Florida and bounce off ideas.
Today I was called by the press about an email that was written by me to this private email group. The email was a part of a large discussion about the Tea Party and the 2012 election and focused on what happened here locally and how that could be applied to our future work. My email called out the GOP Lawyers who advised the Mike Hogan campaign to let it go and concede. To put it lightly, I felt they should have advised them to continue the battle and push hard to make sure … as Alvin Brown said “Count Every Vote.” I mentioned a 2 hour phone conversation I had with Jerry Holland the day after the concession where I was asking questions to understand what happened and why the concession was so quick. Jerry Holland was forthright and answered my questions with sincerity and professionalism. My email indicated how upset I was that the GOP Lawyers did not encourage a fight because I knew the “political machine” would have fought hard and would have kept this process going a lot longer.
To get to the point, either the “political machine” or a mole in our group (doubtful) stole that private email string and sent it to the media.
To say the tea party leaders were shocked and disappointed is an understatement. To say my trust level has been shattered is another understatement.
Abel Harding called me to get a statement about the email. It is circulating all over the media and of course they are running with it. This is juicy news.
I spoke to Abel this evening and told him that was a private email that was stolen and the tea party leaders in Florida were very upset about that. I stand behind the message of the email and believe the Political Machine did beat us and the GOP lawyers should have fought harder for a win. We found out the GOP does not understand who Alinsky is and Alinsky IS the Political Machine. No one organization or person is to blame for the loss of this race and ALL of us are to blame for the loss of this race.
The media loves this story and the GOP is not feeling good right now nor are we. That message was between friends as we tried to understand who the GOP is and how to fight the Political Machine so we can win in 2012.
These are all hard lessons for us. All of us who worked together to win the mayoral race were stunned with the outcome. The Political Machine beat us and that is the fact.
What we must do is figure out how to beat the Political Machine in 2012 – by either coming together with a plan; setting up our own political party; OR hunkering down and wishing it would all go away. At this point, I think we would all agree we must come together to figure thiout. The GOP is weak about the Political Machine and so are we. The Machine has massive amounts of funding and a grassroots system that surpasses all of us. Without funding, a system and boots on the ground, we are going to be fighting an uphill battle that we will not win.
The country loses, the GOP loses, the tea party loses and the people lose.
The end of this story is this:
- We are getting under someone’s skin so they want to infiltrate our emails and our websites.
- The GOP and Tea Party must figure out how they work together – if they do.
- The Political Machine is alive and well in Florida and will not be going away until December 2012.
Abel Harding will have his story about this sad state of affairs tomorrow. There is also another story brewing that the local GOP leader and the Tea Party are in a pointing fingers match with each other and the tea party is being blamed for Mike Hogan’s loss. That is an outright lie and no one in the GOP leadership or the Tea Party has said anything of the sort. We are not blaming each other nor are we blaming the Hogan camp. The blame lies within everyone who had anything to do with this PLUS the 300,000 peope who stayed home and did not vote.
We have gained one more notch in our political belt! We are new to this political game and finding how dark and difficult it is. These notches are hard to take but they are worth it all.
On another note:
- Please be aware that the Political Machine is trolling our website trying to have conversations with bloggers. We are watching these conversations closely and will remove these people from our website when we see hanky-panky.
- The day after the election a member received a phone call from someone asking about the bumper sticker she has “Take Back America.” She told them where to get it (our office) and they asked her if she was a tea party member. She said yes. A few minutes later the same person called backed believing he was calling someone else. She confronted him and he stammered with her until he hung up. It appears the Political Machine is working from a list and trying to identify tea party members. If you get a call, beware of that tactic. As for me, I’m proud to be a Tea Party Member and will gladly say “Yes” when they call.
No one said this would be easy and no one said the press would like us. No one said our friends would not rat us out. No one said we would win every race. But someone did say, “Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” That man was Benjamin Franklin and he understood that fighting for liberty would require a lot from each of us. There are days I wonder if I have it in me to keep it up. Then I cry my tears, wipe them away and say “Hell No – I’m not going away. I owe it to my grandchildren and to those who fought and gave their lives for my freedom."
I am willing to risk everything I have and will continue to do that no matter what the press writes or what the infiltrators do to me. The months ahead will require strong, principled people to stand up to the Political Machine, stare it down and say: “Machines don’t win, people do!”
Are you game for this? Will you go with us? Will we let the press or the Political Machine marginalize us or the GOP so Obama and his political class can win in 2012?
I planned to take the last couple of days off and that has been impossible. I will be taking next week off to recharge the batteries and prepare for the next battle. I may write a blog or two while I am away but I do not plan to entertain the media or anyone else about the mayor’s race. It is finished and there is no need to cry over spilled milk. Instead, it is time to clean it up and figure out a way to eliminate the spills in the future!
And a final note: “Be careful what you put in a private email. It may end up as a headline one day.”
Views: 133
Comment
-
Comment by Karen M on May 21, 2011 at 8:48am
-
Lori
You might be right, because the member that was called has their name along with spouse and last name. Has anyone else received calls?
-
Comment by Patricia M. McBride on May 21, 2011 at 8:42am
-
Lori, if you choose to remove yourself, I would certainly understand, but for me, no way. I use my name on everything (my real name), and I don't intend to stop doing that!
-
-
Lori, I didn't intend to make it sound like you were a cut and run person and sorry you took it that way. I just don't intend to be intimidated into silence or inaction. Intimidation is a weapon the left likes to use if it can. We have a local newspaper that no longer reports the news in a fair and balanced manner and doesn't report some news at all if it doesn't fit into their liberal ideology. Mr. Harding is now trying to silence our organization while at the same time promoting his ideas and has insulted quite a wide range of people in an attempt to put a wall between the tea party and anyone running for office. Fortunately, unlike Mr. Harding, most of the rest of us live in the real world and do have access and use a wide range of sources to get information, and the truth of the last election is out there and readily available. The only folks he can convince to place the blame on us for Hogan losing the election is quite limited because most know the truth of what was going on, and many of those who don't also aren't fooled by the full left turn the TU has made (I do talk to folks that aren't tea party who are also sick of the TU warped reporting of issues and people and their total lack of reporting on many issues important to them). What happened in our city was something we gave a valient fight to stop, but when you are up against the national democratic money machine and paid "volunteers" brought in from other states, and a group of folks who will vote solely based on skin color, 300,000 apathetic voters, you are fighting an uphill battle. Considering all that and all the money spent, Mr. Brown really can't crow at an election that was closer than any in the history of Jacksonville and a scant spread of 1,600 votes. Of course Mr. Harding wants to silence us! Think about it; if we had started earlier, we really could have defeated them. If we had known the lengths that were being gone to earlier, we would have defeated them, and we will not be so foolish the next time!
-
Comment by Barry Lee Phillips on May 21, 2011 at 8:25am
-
Good idea Lori, but if someone physically tries to come after me or a member of my family, they are going to have to deal with me personally.
There is a reason I selected "Don't tread on me" as my avatar.
-
Comment by Eric VanDenhende on May 21, 2011 at 8:24am
-
Lori L said:
To all FCTP members I would remove last name and spouses name. To pervent any one from getting your address and phone number This is a safety issue protect yourself and family.
I understand your concern Lori, and for some of us that may be a good idea. But as for me, I say bring them on. We are secure in our home and know how to defend it. If they want to debate, great, if they mean mischief, that's great too because I'm ready to take the gloves off. These folks don't understand anything else. And it's time we understood that.
-
Comment by Lori Lo on May 21, 2011 at 8:23am
-
"One curious thing you said is that you think the moles have printed out a list of members. How pray tell do you think they got access to that? I am sure Billie and the board don't print out and issue copies to just anyone!"
CUT AND PASTE EACH PAGE I JUST DID TO SEE IF IT WORKED
-
-
I am not ashamed I just do not want anyone showing up at my house that is not welcomed I have my grandchildren here all the time. I do not live in a gated area and for your information I am not a cut and run person.
-
-
Lori,
Sorry, but I don't intend to be intimidated by Mr. Harding or anyone else! I am not ashamed of who or what I am, and I will not be cowed into a corner by the likes of a mole or Mr. Harding and his poison pen. The founding fathers would not agree with you cut and run for cover approach.
One curious thing you said is that you think the moles have printed out a list of members. How pray tell do you think they got access to that? I am sure Billie and the board don't print out and issue copies to just anyone!
-
-
To all FCTP members I would remove last name and spouses name. To pervent any one from getting your address and phone number This is a safety issue protect yourself and family. with removing your full name anyone can get information on you. I just did but I am sure the moles have printed out our members list with full names already but for the future.
-
-
PS Too bad Mr. Harding didn't put as much effort and investigative reporting into some things that were far more important before this past election, but oh yes, he only goes after those he considers enemies of the city/state etc.
National Debt Clock
The First CoastTea Party is a non-profit organization. We have no deep-pocketed special interest funding our efforts.
You may contact us at:
First Coast Tea Party
1205 Salt Creek Island Dr
Ponte Vedra, FL 32082
904-392-7475
Helpful Links
Blog Posts
RYAN NICHOLS - Hardened Criminal?? Seriously??
If you're not already aware. This is what's going on in DC while dangerous criminals are allowed back out on the streets. It's horrifying that this is happening to our citizens and veterans for protesting the hijacking of our election process. This is still happening! They are STILL being tortured and treated like full on terrorists.
You may not be aware of the typical things they're forced to go through...…
ContinuePosted by Babs Jordan on August 14, 2022 at 8:44am
© 2024 Created by LeadershipCouncil.
Powered by
You need to be a member of First Coast Tea Party to add comments!
Join First Coast Tea Party