Maine Patriots

Tea Partiers In Maine Kiss And Make Up (Sorta) After Strange Coup

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 12, 2010, 8:40AM

Last week we told you about the strange reports of a coup underway at the highest levels of one of Maine's largest tea party groups. A week after concerns over Maine Patriots founder Amy Hale's leadership allegedly spilled over into a heated confrontation in a parking lot where Hale was forced to give up control of the tea party group's website, things have calmed down quite a bit. But there's still an information blackout that makes it hard to figure out who's in charge up there.

Hale has responded to critics that said her head got too big to lead the grassroots Maine Patriots, but she still won't respond to my requests for more information about the police report she filed against those she said cornered her and intimidated her into coughing up the password for the Maine Patriots website.

"While I can not talk about the actual incident in the parking lot because of the police investigation," Hale wrote in a recent email to tea partiers in Maine, "I can say that the allegations made against me are false."

Those allegations are essentially that she displayed hubris, and have been leveled at her by a group of Maine tea partiers led by fellow activist Jeff Cucci prior to the "coup." Hale also said in the letter that it's time for the Maine tea party to move on. However, it's unclear who controls the group's website these days.

"I think that it is time that we get all this behind us. We need to be fighting the real enemy; the big government that is taking away our freedoms," Hale wrote. "I hope that you will stick with Maine Patriots as we turn our eyes toward the real enemy."

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Topics: Amy Hale, Maine, Maine Patriots, Maine Refounders, Tea Parties

Tea Parties

Is There A Coup In The Maine Tea Party?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 6, 2010, 10:52AM

Something weird is happening with the tea party in Maine. In the past few days, tea party websites in the Pine Tree State have offered glimpses of what some are calling a coup at the one of the state's largest tea party groups, The Maine Patriots.

On Tuesday night, Amy Hale -- one of the leaders of the Patriots group -- posted an odd message to the group's website, suggesting that she'd been forced to give up control of the site, according to media reports (the post has since been removed):

I was cornered in the parking lot by 10+ people and told that bad things would happen to me if I did not give them the password and hand over Maine Patriots. Therefore, I no longer have control of Maine Patriots. Amy

Hale reported the incident to the police. Last night, she refused to comment on the matter because, she told me, "the investigation is ongoing." Details beyond what she wrote that first night are sketchy.

Piecing together posts from tea party websites in the past couple of days, however, paints a picture of a state tea party in disarray -- and a look at tea party paranoia.

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Topics: Maine, Maine Patriots, Maine Refounders, Tea Parties