Open Letter to Tea Party Founders and Members

by Dwight Kehoe, of the Bayshore Tea Party


Dear Patriots,
First, I wish to thank all those taking part in and helping to organize the multi-group meeting in Toms River this past Wednesday. With a special thanks to Connie and Clark.

In that meeting, the passion each speaker displayed was, while not surprising, still amazing, and to see these wonderful patriots, giving of their time on a hot humid night, when sitting on the patio with families and friends would be so enjoyable, is nothing short of inspiring. When you see what these people sacrifice, weighed against the total apathy of 95% of the electorate, which stayed home this past election, it would be easy to fall victim to dismay and gloom. But, please do not. The fact that we are here, in rather large numbers, most of us having been part of the past lethargy, is proof there is hope.

As each speaker made his or her point, it dawned on me that so much of what we have done and accomplished, in such a small time, has been astounding. But also, and alas, much of what has been done, was ineffective and non-productive.

There are those that are still pushing for a 3rd party. This is so foolish that it is hard to gather the time to dispel it. Yes, we got our noses bloodied in most places in this last election. But we are fledgling. We will grow. We are growing everyday. It is not time to throw in the towel and hand every election to the libs. That is clearly what would happen, as bad as the RINOs are, they won't destroy this country as the Democratic party is doing. If one needs any proof about this 3rd party scenario, just ask yourself how elated you would be if George Soros announced he was creating and funding a Progressive Party that would compete for votes from the Dems.

Also, we heard from those, so disappointed that the GOP beat them and their candidates, that they were considering, not voting for the Republican Primary winner. This, of course, while on an emotional level may be soothing, but on a practical one, is disastrous. A true patriot falling into the same category of the apathetic. Any no vote, is a vote for the enemy. A final note on this. What do you get when conservatives punish the Republican Party? The answer.....President Obama!

Several of the speakers made it clear that their Tea Parties do not endorse or support candidates. The next question then, must be, what the heck are you doing? Does your Tea Party have hundreds of thousands of dollars to "educate" the voting public in competition with the millions the well heeled RINO's will spend? For what purpose does your group exist? To satisfy the feeling that you are at least "doing something"? Because, without endorsing and supporting, as a group, that will be and was, all it accomplished.

There were about 14 Tea Party groups in the room on Wednesday. Thirteen of them had something in common. They all lost their congressional races and, in some cases, by a large margin. What else do these groups have in common? None of them chose to endorse or support a "Tea Party Approved" candidate. Some, it's true, gave tacit approval that never went beyond a one day press release. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the RINOs, melting the Arctic with a Bic lighter may have gotten better results.

So, as the primary voter goes into the booth, taking a brief time out from his normal activities, as he scans the ballot he sees the GOP candidate, has heard his name and seen his picture, hundreds of times over the past month. Oh!, there is another name there, but who the heck is he? Which candidate is going to get his vote? No brain-er.

On the other hand, the same voter goes into the booth, scans the ballot, again he sees the familiar GOP name but now he also sees, Republican- "Tea Party Approved". He may not have heard that persons name but he sure as heck has heard of the Tea Party and knows what they stand for. At least, now the voter has a choice. The same old GOP or a Tea Party constitutionalist.

Is this a proven winning scenario? The facts speak for them selves. The answer is a resounding Yes! The Bayshore Tea Party Group, endorsed and supported two candidates. Both those candidates used the slogan "Republican- Tea Party Approved" on their ballot. Our two candidates were out spent by the RINO's by a total of $1,060,000.00 to $70,000.00. The regular GOP had name recognition, for sure, but our candidates did too. The name "Tea Party".

As everyone knows, Anna Little won her primary and by a very small number. But it was an astounding victory and upset. Our other candidate, Dave Corsi did not win, but in a sense, what he did was even more of a victory for him and the Tea Party than Anna's. Dave spent $6,000. to Sipprelle's estimated $640,000.00. Dave actually beat the GOP guy in Monmouth County by over 1,300 votes. If it were not for Sipprelle getting the support from a Philadelphia group of "handi-cappers", which allowed him to muddy the waters in Middlesex, by claiming "Tea Party Endorsed" in his commercials, Dave actually could have won too.

This letter is meant in no way to disparage or demean any of the fine, hard working Patriots that have endeavored to help get our country back. It is meant only for each group's edification and evaluation. If our movement is going to continue to grow, and we are going to continue to request sacrifices form our members, it is important for them to know the time away from their families is being well spent and productive.

Each of our groups have to look at the other to see what has worked and what has not. Where mistakes were made and what directions show success. We at Bayshore Tea Party Group, made a few errors during this campaign that we are in th process of correcting for the next cycle. If anyone would like to take part in those discussions, please come to our next meeting, Sunday, June 27th, 4:00 PM at the IHOP in Keyport.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and in the words of one of our leaders, Mark Falzon, "Charge, Dammit".

Sincerely,
Dwight Kehoe
Bayshore Tea Party Group