Getting TEA’d off?
From the Spokane Convention Center to Coeur d'Alene's Independence Point to the Codger Pole in Colfax, tax protesters around the Northwest will be gathering Wednesday at TEA Parties.
No plans to serve Orange Pekoe, though.
TEA in this case stands for Taxed Enough Already. It's a movement fueled in part by talk radio and talking head television, with assists from the Ron Paul wing of the Republican Party, Libertarians and conservatives looking to put the breaks on federal spending to stimulate the economy.
Although organizers like to make reference to the Boston Tea Party, it's unlikely that there will be much dumping of tea into bodies of water.
"That's definitely not the plan," said Gary Edgington, the organizer of the Spokane event, scheduled from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Spokane Convention Center breezeway. He's hoping there won't be hundreds or thousands of tea bags tossed in the nearby river that state and local environmental authorities would trace back to...him?
But there will be speech-making...
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Evergreen Freedom Foundation president Bob Williams and others will be speaking at the Spokane event.
The events are getting attention, both good and bad, around the country. FOX News has been a big supporter, although some media watchdogs like Media Matters, has questioned that as being less than fair and balanced. The Atlantic Monthly has written about the groups behind the grassroots.
Other Inland Northwest TEA Parties, according to the national Web site, include:
Coeur d'Alene: 3 p.m., Independence Point, City Park.
Colfax: 4 p.m., Codger Pole on South Main Street.
Colville:1 p.m., County Courthouse, S.215 Oak St.
Moscow: Noon, Friendship Square, Downtown.
Newport: 4 p.m., Oldtown Bridge
Priest River: Noon, City Hall on High Street
Pullman: Noon. Corner of Bethel and Lund
Walla Walla: Noon, Land Title Plaza, First and Main