Here is an article from the Ocala Star Banner about the Tea Party Network event held this past Saturday in St. Augustine. Please read below.

Constitution Party candidate: Tea Party favors GOP

The U.S. Senate candidate from the Constitution Party had hoped to speak to a bunch of people who swear fealty to the U.S. Constitution and who will gather today in St. Augustine to celebrate the nation’s founding charter at an event held under the headline “Forward With the Constitution.”

But that candidate is not going to deliver his speech.

In fact, he was rejected from even having a booth to meet the crowd that will gather at Francis Field, where a coalition of Tea Party activists from North Central Florida, including some from Ocala and Gainesville, will rally to celebrate the Constitution.

Now, the campaign of Bernie DeCastro, an Ocala resident representing the Constitution Party, is questioning whether the Tea Partiers’ mission is to work independently of both major parties to demand greater adherence to the principles of the Founding Fathers, as it claims.

It seems, DeCastro said, that the group’s real aim is to slant toward the Republican Party and retool it in their own image.

The answer from one Tea Party enthusiast — at least for now — appears to be yes, with emphasis on the latter.

The issue began a few weeks ago when DeCastro sought to speak at the St. Augustine rally.

His request was eventually denied.

Viability issue

Organizers said they excluded DeCastro because they had not heard of him, their schedule for the four-hour rally was already booked and he was not “viable” in a race dominated by the presence of Gov. Charlie Crist, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and Marco Rubio.

As it turns out, Rubio is billed as one of the featured speakers, along with GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott and Pam Bondi, the Republican nominee for state attorney general.

Meanwhile, organizers have allowed Alex Snitker, the Libertarian Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, to address the gathering only because he has a “following” in the St. Augustine area.

That, along with the response from Glenn Lord, a member of the Peoples Tea Party in Jacksonville and the main organizer of today’s event, has stumped DeCastro’s team about the Tea Partiers’ motives and political hopes.

“Personally and overwhelmingly all the area Tea Party groups believe that any third party candidates help the Democrats and hurt the chances of electing people with conservative views,” Lord wrote in an e-mail to DeCastro’s campaign.

“Toward curing that, in a couple of years the Tea Party should own the Republican Party and in 2012 the candidates that will be supported and selected in the primary will be true conservatives,” he added. “There will still be third party candidates who wish to fight the system rather than work inside to change it and they will continue to hurt conservatives.”

Lord offered to let DeCastro speak and “possibly be a headliner” if another rally were held.

But, he concluded, “My personal advice is to repair the wheel that is broken, not go back to the drawing board to re-invent it.”

Lord, in an e-mail response to the Star-Banner, reiterated that DeCastro had been barred because of time constraints.

Not just the GOP

Yet he also maintained that the “Forward With the Constitution” rally, and in a larger sense the Tea Party movement itself, was not a Republican-only affair.

For example, Lord identified Tom Hayes-Morrison, a Democrat who is prominent in the Gainesville Tea Party, as one of the emcees. And Meek was invited to attend but declined — something Meek’s campaign confirmed.

“For the Tea Party movement it is not at all about party, it is about where can we be effective and that has the Republicans and Democrats scared to death,” Lord added in his e-mail to the newspaper.

But some believe the lineup in St. Augustine shows that the Tea Party is only interested in hearing the Republican mantra.

“While I and my campaign fully support all Tea Party members and rallies for restoring America, I believe the response of leaders for the ‘Forward With the Constitution’ event in St. Augustine has been irresponsible, dishonest and contrary to the spirit for which the Tea Parties stand,” DeCastro said in a statement.

DeCastro further added that it was disingenuous as well as hypocritical for the organizers to claim they are unbiased toward all parties but then to acknowledge that their best hopes lie with taking control of the GOP.DeCastro said the organizers’ position, including excluding him from having a booth at the site, “appears to be a deliberate attempt to force their own will and opinions on the people of these inspirational and dedicated Tea Party Patriots.”

DeCastro also observed that Rubio, as far as his campaign staff could determine, had never been vetted by a Tea Party, nor even attended a Tea Party event, until now.

Steve Schonberg, a Belleview resident who is challenging U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, and running without a party affiliation, said he agrees with the Tea Party’s main points about fiscal responsibility and strict adherence to the Constitution.

He had an impression of who the audience in St. Augustine would be and hoped to profit from it.

“It’s really not a Tea Party organization, as far as I’m concerned,” Schonberg said. “It’s really a Republican gathering. I want to go and encourage those Tea Partiers who are unhappy with Cliff Stearns.”

Mary Clark, vice president of Tea Party Solutions in Ocala, which has members supportive of DeCastro, said DeCastro should have been added to the lineup.

“It grieves me because I think Bernie ought to be allowed to speak. That’s not right. Bernie DeCastro has voiced his opinions and his opinions are in line with Tea Party principles. Bernie has shown his allegiance to support the Constitution.”

Looking to win

Some Tea Party activists have gone beyond grassroots demonstrations and are actually looking to get their people elected, forming the Florida TEA party.

They also have a candidate, Peg Dunmire of Orlando, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando, whose district includes much of eastern Marion County.

Lord countered in his e-mail that Florida TEA Party “has nothing to do with the movement and is a ploy funded in part by Grayson” — an allegation TEA Party leaders have vigorously denied.

Lord also pointed out that he has tried to make a third party work. He was a registered Libertarian until earlier this year and had worked on Ross Perot’s campaign.

“The Libertarian Party has had years to make a mark and failed, as has every other third party,” he said. “Working outside the system has failed and I challenge anyone to name where and when a third party has ever succeeded aside from one or two races. Do we remember the huge victories of any third party?”

By: Bill Thompson, Star Banner

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 11:02 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.