Anthony Loiacono

Alleged Tea Party HD Scammer Countersues Former Business Partners

Jillian Rayfield | December 23, 2011, 12:26PM

A conservative businessman, accused of scamming investors in a Tea Party television venture, is countersuing his former business partners, claiming that they conspired against him and that he "has suffered shame and humiliation" as a result of their suit.

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Bill Hemrick

Conservative Investors Sue Over Sham Tea Party TV Network

Jillian Rayfield | November 11, 2011, 6:25AM

A group of conservative investors in Tennessee is suing a California businessman for allegedly conning them into investing in Tea Party HD, a TV channel aimed at tea partiers, that they say turned out to be a scam.

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Judson Phillips

Tea Party Nation Head Defends Pat Buchanan: The Real 'Racist Nuts' Are In Color Of Change

Jillian Rayfield | October 26, 2011, 11:18AM

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips defended Pat Buchanan against charges of racism by African-American civil rights group Color of Change, arguing that "the racist in this story is the group, the Color of Change."

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Tea Party Nation

Tea Party Nation: 'Anonymous' Attacked Us With Porn

Jillian Rayfield | March 15, 2011, 11:08AM

Founder of Tea Party Nation Judson Phillips

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips is claiming that the hacker collective 'Anonymous' is attacking the Tea Party Nation website by getting supporters to pose as Tea Party members and post racist pictures and porn.

'Anonymous', however, has seemingly not taken credit for the attack, nor is there much evidence the attack came from them.

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Barack Obama

Tea Party Nation Founder: Obama Wants China To Fund His Campaign Like Hamas Did In '08

Jillian Rayfield | January 19, 2011, 10:39AM

Judson Phillips, leader of Tea Party Nation.

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips thinks this week's state dinner with China has a much more sinister purpose than the White House would have us believe: "In 2008, Obama even received campaign contributions from Gaza (I.e. Hamas). So where does a corrupt, unpopular President from the party of treason go for reelection cash? China, of course."

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Tea Party Nation

Tea Party Nation Founder: Let's Get Rid Of The 'Socialist' Methodist Church

Jillian Rayfield | December 20, 2010, 12:24PM

Judson Phillips, leader of Tea Party Nation.

Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips has a dream: "No more Methodist Church."

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Judson Phillips

Tea Party Nation Founder: 'A Wise Idea' To Only Let Property Owners Vote

Jillian Rayfield | December 3, 2010, 5:35PM

Judson Phillips, leader of Tea Party Nation.

Judson Phillips, the founder of the group Tea Party Nation, has defended his comments that the Founding Fathers' original plan to only allow property owners to vote "makes a lot of sense" because "property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners."

In an email to ThinkProgress yesterday, Phillips doubled down, referring to the radio broadcast last week in which he made the comments: "During the course of our discussion, I mentioned that the Founding Fathers limited voting rights to property owners. I commented this was a wise idea."

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Tea Party Natoinal Federation

New Tea Party Federation Aims To Unite Movement -- But One Key Group Stays Away

Zachary Roth | April 9, 2010, 1:11PM

A crowd gathers at a tea party

An organizer of February's National Tea Party Convention has launched a new effort to unite the fractious Tea Party movement. But one major Tea Party faction isn't on board.

A coalition of Tea Party groups yesterday announced the formation of the National Tea Party Federation (NTFP), saying it will aim to act as a "clearinghouse" for Tea Party groups, and promote the goals of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets."

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Tea Party Nation

Tea Party Convention Backer Sues Organizer

Zachary Roth | March 31, 2010, 9:54AM

At a tea party in Philadelphia

In the latest sign of Tea Party rancor, the key backer of last month's national convention at which Sarah Palin spoke is suing the event's organizer, charging that he reneged on a deal to continue working together on Tea Party business.

Bill Hemrick, the founder of the Upper Deck baseball card company, loaned Tea Party Nation $50,000, which went towards the $100,000 speaking fee given to Palin. He says the money was loaned on the condition that he could remain involved with the conservative political action committee that TPN founder and convention organizer Judson Phillips said he was putting together. Hemrick says that Phillips backed out of the deal, and even barred Hemrick from attending Palin's speech. He also claims that Phillips defamed him by writing an email to supporters saying he was not "reputable" or "trustworthy."

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Tea Parties

Is There A Tea Party Movement?

Zachary Roth | March 24, 2010, 12:59PM

Tea party in Washington, D.C.

At first it seems absurd even to ask the question in the title. After all, the emergence of the Tea Partiers has been among the hottest political stories of the past year, and the group just came within inches of stymieing President Obama's major agenda item.

But lately, it's begun to appear that the Tea Partiers -- at least as defined by the media -- aren't so much a new force of previously apolitical regular folks, stirred from their apathy by an expansion of government and Rick Santelli's famous rant. Rather, they're essentially conservative Republican base voters, who were demoralized by the failures of the Bush years and have been re-energized by Democratic control of Washington. And they're part of a strain of the conservative movement that has long been driven by cultural resentment and racial paranoia.

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Tea Parties

All The Tea In China: Conservative Activists Gather At Hunan Dynasty For Anti-Reform Press Conference

Zachary Roth | March 9, 2010, 6:01PM

A coalition of Tea Party groups will gather in a Chinese restaurant on Capitol Hill tonight to announce plans for one final Washington showdown over health-care reform.

The event, dubbed "Take the Town Halls to Washington," is designed to bring Tea Party activists to Capitol Hill during the month of March, in order to target 50 House Democrats who have not yet announced their vote on health-care reform, according to a press release. It's being put together by Mark Skoda, a prime organizer of last month's controversial National Tea Party Convention, where Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker, and by Michael Patrick Leahy, a Tea Party leader and GOP consultant.

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Tea Party Nation

Palin Tea Party Convention Speech To Be Broadcast Live

Zachary Roth | February 1, 2010, 3:38PM

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

The much-maligned Tea Party group organizing the National Tea Party Convention this week has announced that portions of the controversial confab, including Sarah Palin's speech, will be broadcast live.

In a press release, Tea Party Nation (TPN) spokesman Mark Skoda writes:

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Tea Party Express

In Damage Control Mode, Tea Party Express Slams 'Smears'

Zachary Roth | February 1, 2010, 9:52AM

Lloyd Marcus

In an aggressive damage control effort launched in the wake of a barrage of negative publicity, a leading Tea Party group created by a Republican consulting firm is pushing back against what it calls "false and malicious attacks."

The Tea Party Express (TPE) yesterday sent an email to supporters slamming "attack hit pieces" by TPMmuckraker and other outlets. The recent stories, writes TPE's Lloyd Marcus under the TPE banner, amount to "a range of rumors, accusations, allegations, smears and mischaracterizations of what we at the Tea Party Express are supposedly about." Marcus, the African-American country singer who has become a prominent TPE spokesman, promises another email soon that will "debunk" the "smears."

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Tea Party Nation

Tea Party Nation Speaks Out: 'We Never Did This To Be Rich And Famous'

Christina Bellantoni | January 30, 2010, 5:49PM

At a tea party in Washington, D.C. in 2009

Tea Party Nation organizers today issued a long defense of their unraveling convention, lambasting former members they say are trying to harm the movement and outlining for the first time in great detail their event's sponsorships and problems.

We've been following the travails of the upcoming Tea Party Nation convention for weeks, with key speakers withdrawing and the Tea Party Express group backing out as well thanks to feuds over the cost and expected profits of the convention.

Sherry Phillips wrote a long email to members of the Tea Party Nation mailing list titled "Setting The Record Straight."

Phillips said organizers were encouraged to speak out against the "intense media scrutiny and attacks by former members" but she stayed silent so as not to further divisions "that are already hurting this movement."

"We will stay silent no longer," she wrote.

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Michele Bachmann

Bachmann Is Latest To Pull Out Of Tea Party Convention

Zachary Roth | January 28, 2010, 12:47PM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN)

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has become the latest to pull out of a scheduled speaking gig at the controversial National Tea Party Convention next year.

Like Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) earlier today, Bachmann's office cited concerns about the event's financial arrangements. Some Tea Partiers have accused the convention's organizer, Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation, of seeking to profit from the confab.

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Tea Parties

Blackburn Backs Out Of Controversial Tea Party Convention, Bachmann May Follow

Zachary Roth | January 28, 2010, 11:25AM

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

The much-maligned National Tea Party Convention may be unraveling, as one of its scheduled GOP speakers backs out, and another mulls doing likewise.

The convention, planned for next month in Nashville, grabbed headlines by announcing that Sarah Palin and Republican Congresswomen Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn would speak.

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Tea Parties

Another Tea Party Convention Sponsor Pulls Out

Zachary Roth | January 26, 2010, 9:14AM

Tea party in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009

Another sponsor of the upcoming National Tea Party Convention has pulled out, citing fears over possible "profiteering and exploitation of the grassroots movement" by the organizing group, Tea Party Nation (TPN).

Philip Glass of the National Precinct Alliance, a conservative activist group, said in a statement, according to the New York Times:

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Tea Parties

Tea Party Dilemma: To GOP Or Not To GOP?

Zachary Roth | January 22, 2010, 9:03AM

Like thousands of other Americans, Jim Knapp got involved with the Tea Party movement in the spring of 2009. Knapp, who lives in Sacramento, California, helped form a local group that organized a well-attended event on Tax Day last April.

But around May, something unexpected happened: Locally-based Republican party strategists started coming to the group's meetings. That alarmed Knapp and many of his fellow activists, who were motivated in large part by a deep suspicion of both major parties. "I said, 'what the fuck are you doing here?'" the blunt-spoken Knapp told TPMmuckraker.

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Tea Parties

Tea Partier: 'Boycott The National Tea Party Convention'

Zachary Roth | January 18, 2010, 2:57PM

National Tea Party Convention organizer Judson Phillips

Yet another Tea Partier is sounding the alarm about the upcoming National Tea Party Convention and questioning the motives of its organizer.

Shane Brooks worked closely with convention organizer Judson Phillips and his Tea Party Nation (TPN) group, until a falling out last month in part over what Brooks saw as TPN's overly close relationship with the GOP, which Brooks distrusts. Now, Brooks, based in Texas, has posted a YouTube video urging fellow activists to "boycott the National Tea Party Convention," and declaring, "we will not allow Tea Party Nation or any group to achieve national leadership of this historic grassroots revolution by the people!"

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Tea Parties

Hands Off! The Political Insiders Accused Of Hijacking The Tea Party Movement

Zachary Roth | January 18, 2010, 12:55PM

Tea party in Hartford, Connecticut in 2009

As the Tea Party movement approaches its one-year anniversary, grassroots activists increasingly are finding themselves fighting off what they see as cynical bids by unscrupulous sophisticates to co-opt the movement for their own ends.

These new players on the Tea Party scene are lawyers, political consultants, business-people, and even Republican politicians. They're not working together for the most part, and the details of their efforts differ. But all have taken steps lately that have been denounced -- often by Tea Party activists -- as efforts to benefit personally from a movement that prides itself on its independence and incorruptability.

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Tea Party Nation

Florida Duo Claiming Rights To Tea Party Name Have History Of Alleged Political Dirty Tricks

Zachary Roth | January 15, 2010, 10:40AM

Tea Party protesters (inset: Doug Guetzloe)

The two-man team of Florida political activists who are claiming the rights to the "Tea Party" name have been accused in the past of engaging in political trickery for profit, including allegedly pressing opposing candidates to pay for the endorsement of their candidate.

In August, Orlando lawyer Fred O'Neal registered the "Tea Party of Florida" (TPOF) as an official political party. Since then, as we reported yesterday, he and his close ally, GOP political consultant Doug Guetzloe, have asserted rights to the Tea Party name, and tried to strong-arm some local groups to drop the well-known moniker.

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Tea Parties

Florida Lawyer Claims Rights To Tea Party Name -- Says Activist: He's 'Trying To Hijack Our Movement'

Zachary Roth | January 14, 2010, 12:05PM

At a tea party in Philadelphia in 2009.

A Florida lawyer who registered the "Tea Party" as an official political party doesn't want to share the name that's become synonymous with the fledgling grassroots conservative movement. Fred O'Neal is pressuring activists in the state to rechristen their local Tea Party groups -- and in doing so, he's become the latest figure to be charged with co-opting the movement for personal gain.

In August, O'Neal, an Orlando attorney and anti-tax activist who until then had had little involvement with the Tea Party movement, registered the "Tea Party" as a new political party with the Florida Division of Elections. O'Neal has told the press he intends to recruit conservative candidates under the Tea Party banner -- an idea that hasn't sat well with many Tea Party activists, who view any organized political party with distrust.

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Tea Party Nation

Tea Party Convention Organizer Used 'Our Passion For The Movement To Build His Start-Up'

Zachary Roth | January 13, 2010, 11:22AM

National Tea Party Convention organizer Judson Phillips

The organizer of the National Tea Party Convention, at which Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann will speak next month, cynically took advantage of conservative activists' willingness to work on behalf of the Tea Party cause in his bid to launch a money-making enterprise, according to one fellow Tea Partier.

Kevin Smith told TPMmuckraker that Judson Phillips, the Nashville defense lawyer behind the upcoming National Tea Party Convention, abruptly turned Tea Party Nation into a for-profit corporation last year, shocking fellow activists who had discussed setting up the fledgling group as a non-profit.

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Tea Parties

Key Sponsor Pulls Out Of Tea Party Convention

Zachary Roth | January 13, 2010, 10:01AM

Tea party in Washington, D.C.

One of the key co-sponsors of the National Tea Party Convention has pulled out of the event, citing concerns over the financial arrangements of Tea Party Nation, the group organizing the confab.

Eric Odom of American Liberty Alliance is seen by many as one of the founders of the Tea Party movement. His group had been listed as a "gold" co-sponsor of the convention, and in an interview Friday with TPMmuckraker, Odom sounded bullish about it. But today he writes that his group "will sit out" the event:

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Tea Party Express

'The Tea Party Movement Is About To Be Hijacked': Activists Slam Plan For Convention

Zachary Roth | January 11, 2010, 9:00AM

In the latest sign of rancor in Tea Party circles, a convention billed as an effort to bring together conservative activists from across the country is being attacked by some leading Tea Partiers as inauthentic, too tied to the GOP, and -- at $549 per head -- too expensive for the working Americans the movement aspires to represent.

The National Tea Party Convention, scheduled for early February in Nashville, grabbed headlines after announcing that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann would appear as speakers, Palin as the keynote. According to a message on the convention's website, the event "is aimed at bringing the Tea Party Movement leaders together from around the nation." But organizers are a long way from unifying the notoriously fractious movement.

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