Tea Party Exchange

Anatomy Of A Fail: Rise And Fall Of The Tea Party Exchange

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 19, 2010, 8:40AM

It seemed like a brilliant idea: provide a way for tea party-conscious consumers and tea party-sympathetic businesses to join forces and, well, support their local tea party. It ended in disaster, hurt feelings and more than a few accusations of flim-flammery.

Over the past week or so, the Dayton Daily News has been cataloging the rise and fall of the Tea Party Exchange, one Ohio tea party leader's plan to use capitalism to the movement's favor. The plan was simple: tea party supporters in Ohio would obtain a "TPX-Great American card" which entitled them to discounts at participating businesses who agreed to share some of their profits with a local tea party group. The Exchange tweeted on June 20 that it was up and running. Here's how it worked, according to the paper on Aug. 13:

The TPX card is "similar to a customer-loyalty card consumers can attach to key rings -- and show it at a participating business can get a discount on the company's services. The local merchant then gives 5 percent of the sale revenue to the local Tea party chapter to help fund rallies."

The man behind the plan is Donald Hutchinson, a "human resources consultant" who said he planned to debut the Exchange system at the big September tea party rally in DC. Ohio was meant to be "the test market" for the program, according to what's left of the Tea Party Exchange website.

It appears that things didn't work out the way Hutchinson planned.

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