I'm Announcing My Resignation From The Florida TEA Party Political Party

Yogi Berra is quoted as saying, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." That describes perfectly why I will no longer be serving as Communications Director of the Florida TEA Party.

Over the last year the tea party movement has excited much political activity. In Orlando, the first tea party event was organized by Jason Hoyt in March 2009. Attending this small roadside rally portended much greater things to come.

It was followed by bigger grassroots 'uprisings' leading to Washington, D.C. Politics and more importantly politicians, were served notice that the people had awoken!

Recently I have been involved with helping to support a third party called the Florida TEA Party. They now have candidates that will appear on the Florida November ballot.

While I'm no stranger to controversy, aligning myself with FTP has resulted in much criticism and misunderstanding. As a result I've had to weigh the consequences of staying with this group.

My passion has always been to get people to look beyond slogans and party affiliations. I've endeavored on this blog and on Facebook to engage political exploration on a variety of topics.

For this open communication to continue, I'm sensing that I must excuse myself from direct participation in FTP. My hope is that I can now write and speak about topics that won't leave people wondering if I'm just 'fronting' for FTP.

I would also like to thank the many Facebook posters who have engaged in thoughtful discussions on this topic.

No doubt we have all faced our own forks in the road. The choices are out there, but only time will tell if you've chosen the right path. This choice was not easy; but for me I think it was the best one.

Sincerely,
Nick Egoroff

Tempests Within Tea Pots

Today some leaders of some tea party groups decided that they would try to push a number of candidates to 'withdraw' from their respective races. As crazy as it sounds, tea party supporters are condemning grassroots candidates!

The condemnation comes as a result of these candidates wanting to run under the Florida TEA Party banner. Since the Florida Division of Elections recognized TEA a a political party, lots of folks have decided to run under this new third party.

But this has not sat well with some people. These tea party activists have engaged in a relentless campaign to smear and destroy this new political party.

Their reasons boil down to 1) it will split the vote and 2) it is being funded by Democrats. None of these two objections are proven, but there are bigger problems ahead.

When people start to intimidate candidates something has gone terribly wrong. If anyone wants to run for office, they have that free right. Debate the issues and make your choices.

Let's hope that we can return to the importance of platforms and qualifications.

Name calling and rumor-mongering do little except to stir the pot of hatred. Besides, most people prefer their tea with a bit of sweetener to take away the bitterness.

Florida TEA Party (political party) Shakes Up State Legislative Races!

MEDIA RELEASE



For Release June 18, 2010

For Further Information

Contact: Fred O'Neal, Chairman
(407) 719-6796

TEA Party Communications Director

Nick Egoroff (321) 228-9761



TEA Party Takes Aim At State Level Republican Party and Democrat Leadership


(Orlando, FL)- Florida TEA Party Chairman Fred O'Neal announced that twenty (20) candidates for the Florida legislature met qualifying deadline today to qualify for the November general election. All would have the word 'TEA' appear on the ballot next to their name and are the official nominees of the TEA party.

"We promised months ago that Republicans that merely talked about lower taxes but then voted for bigger government would be targeted. Today, incoming Florida Speaker of the House Dean Cannon, incoming Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, and Democrat leader Ron Saunders all have Florida TEA Party opponents," said O'Neal.

"We will expose these RINO Republicans as the frauds that they are. Taxpayers have a right to a real choice and the TEA Party will give it to them."

O'Neal expects to wage a vigorous grassroots campaign that will oppose the influence of vested special interest money. "Just look at the millions of dollars that Cannon and Haridopolos have raised so far from lobbyists. It is an embarrassment that the Florida legislature is for sale to the highest bidder."

"For over a decade the Republicans have had a majority in Tallahassee and a Republican in the governor's mansion...and all we have to show for it is tax and spend policies that have helped bankrupt Florida's economy."

"We pleased to have a TEA Party candidate running in a Democrat stronghold district that the Republicans were afraid to challenge," he said. O'Neal was referring to Dr. Marshal DeRosa, a professor at Florida Atlantic University running in Senate District 30.

O'Neal also pointed out that Florida TEA Party candidates have qualified from Florida's panhandle to Key West and demonstrate a strong beginning for a brand new political party.

Florida TEA Party is an official political party recognized by the State of Florida and authorized by Florida Division of Elections to place candidates on the November ballot.


www.FloridaTEAParty.US

(END

The Tyranny Of The Primary System

Lots of primary's today, and much talk about who will win. Will the tea party favored candidate trounce the GOP old guard candidate? Are incumbents going to be a casualty?

Heady stuff for sure, but no one seems to look at one glaring fact. Namely that primary's traditionally poll only 20 to 30 percent of the electorate. That is to say that most people stay home and just vote in the November general election.

Is it fair that these 'activists' get to determine the choices for others? I would argue no. Sure, we can warn these 'November Only' voters, that they need to be more involved. But the fact has been verified for the last 50 years: Most people simply are only be willing to come to a polling place once a year and no more.


Add to this the understanding that most states have what is termed 'closed primary's'. This means you must be registered either as a Republican or a Democrat to be part of the primary process.

But wait, what about registered Independents? Too bad, they are going to be stuck with limited choices in November. And remember that more than 25 percent of voters refuse to register with either the Democrats or Republicans!

So if we take the 25 percent registered independents who can't take part in the primary and realize that two-thirds of registered Democrats and Republicans won't be voting today, we come up with a very sobering thought. Far from the primary system being the voice of the people it is instead the tyranny of the few!

Let's think about this for a minute. Do we really want our political destiny determined by so few people? I certainly don't.

Again we can argue all day long with neighbors that they must get involved in the primary process. But like it or not, most people are not political junkies and never will be. They want to vote once and that isn't changing any time soon.

Take my friend Abe (actually his real name;-). Abe is quite opinionated and has a general disgust for most politicians. I've made the case to him months ago that he should consider Marco Rubio. And this was long before Marco leaped to prominence.

But Abe is a registered independent and has been for a long time. He typically votes for Republicans (Bush got his vote in 2000 and 2004, as did McCain. But he refuses to register Republican or get involved in primary's. "Too much trouble. I'll just make my choice in November."

This all leads me to a conclusion. I'm quitting the 'can't vote third party or you'll split the vote.' Nope, since the choices offered by the Republican and Democrat party's are nowhere near the choice of the people, I say: Warmly welcome the third party's!

The point is this. Many people are complaining about the government and their elected officials. Perhaps we should start having more choices rather than making politics a game of point-spreads and adorable animal mascots.

Maybe, just maybe, we can send a real message: We have come to take our government back, and we're not just limiting it to your phony two party choices.

Nick Egoroff

RPOF Chair Jim Greer Arrested: Now For The Rest Of The Story!

"A statewide grand jury indicted Greer, 47, of Oviedo, on four counts of grand theft and one count each of money laundering and running an organized scheme to defraud. All are felonies."

So started the latest chapter in corruption that permeates the Republican Party of Florida. http://j.mp/b1Wh4Y

That someone in politics is exposed as a crook is hardly news. But this story has much deeper roots than a simple pol caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Already the spinmeisters are busy at work to camouflage the crime scene. Their hope is that you'll see the headline, shrug, and say 'good riddance to another crooked politician.'

First we'll start with Florida Department of Law Enforcement. They say, 'We're only investigating Jim Greer and we want to thank the RPOF for their helpfulness on this investigation.'

Ah yes, I'm sure that RPOF is is shocked, yes shocked, that money laundering is going on in the Republican party.' Sure you are. After all, raising astronomical amounts of money from corporate interests and then shoveling it to various elected Republican officials is all just in a days' work for this crew.

Current RPOF Chair John Thrasher and his spinners are busy trying to distance themselves from Greer, even hoping to make some political hay by attaching this scandal to Charlie Crist. Greer was handpicked by Gov. Charlie Crist and "you just can't walk away from that," Thrasher is quoted as saying.

Excellent pivot John! Direct people's view over to the hapless former Republican gov hoping to score some political points in the process.

Of course what gentleman John won't bother to mention is that he's a highly paid lobbyist himself, raising tonnes of bucks from corporate interests. What's the saying about 'the pot calling the kettle black'?

The real crime scene at RPOF (and Democrats do the same thing) is more like EVERYONE is hip-deep in money and it is always a scramble to cover up, er, distribute the cash so everyone stays fat, dumb, and happy. And if you've seen pictures of our rotund former chair, this is literally true.

FDLE should really begin an investigation of how much money is sloshing around the two big political party's. But no doubt both the Dem's and Rep's are holding their collective breath hoping that no one starts poking around and finding where the money trail ends.

Thanks for reading this far. Now for the rest of the story.

This is about much more than 'one good politician gone bad.' Remember that Charlie Crist, Jim Greer, and John Thrasher used to all be good friends. They'd work together shaking down and harvesting the money trees that dot Florida's corporate landscape.

Then they would bring home the spoils to incoming House Speaker Republican Dean Cannon, incoming Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, and hundreds of other elected Republicans. Happily they'd all sit down to divide up the booty.

But as all crooks know, someone always gets greedy and someone feels left out.

What we saw happen today is just the first act of a well known play that will have many more villains and bad guys.

Little birds are whispering to me that there are many more investigations going on. Word is that Cannon, Haridopolos, Rubio, and many others are all under investigation.

And we're not just talking FDLE. The Federal government would also like a crack at these so-called public servants. And when the Fed's get involved watch out.

Stay tuned, the curtain is about to go up!

Nick Egoroff