Jerry Seib: GOP Pick Off Tea Party Candidates
The Republican Party establishment is actively seeking to remove Tea Party challengers in this year #39;s midterm election. Such a stance is exemplified in the C...
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Jerry Seib: GOP Pick Off Tea Party Candidates - Video
The chairwoman of the Tea Party Express is stepping down after being involved with the influential organization since 2009, saying she plans to get involved in Senate primary races.
Amy Kremer announced in a statement Friday that she felt it was the right time to move on.
This has been a really difficult decision for me, but the time has come for me to leave Tea Party Express, Kremer said in a statement from Kentucky. Ive wanted to move in a different direction for a while, but also wanted to make sure that any change I make was also a positive change for the conservative movement. So as we move into this election cycle, I think the time is right.
Kremer cited her experience as one of the members of the first Tea Party Express tour and as a founder of the movement, saying her next project would keep me working in that movement. Saying she couldnt yet go into specifics, the statement said she would be on the ground in Senate primaries.
The resignation is effective immediately, she said.
Kremer told CNN, which first reported the news, she wants to focus her efforts on Kentuckys Senate race, where she is working with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells primary challenger, Matt Bevin.
Instead, the Tea Party Express will be in Florida supporting a candidate in the special election for a House seat, one that Kremer said should take a backseat to a Senate race.
Kremer said the split happened on good terms and she will also be involved in other GOP primaries around the country.
While the tea party generally is not isolated to one organization, the Tea Party Express has been a major player in the upstart conservative movement since its beginnings before the 2010 elections.
Kremer got involved in the movement in 2009 and helped found the Atlanta Tea Party and Tea Party Patriots, later joining Tea Party Express. Her move caused a rift with Tea Party Patriots, and they ousted her from their board of directors. The split has spurred an ongoing legal battle between Kremer and the group.
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Tea Party Express chair to step down
The Redlands Tea Party Patriots recently honored its founding members while celebrating its five year anniversary with a special meeting featuring two coordinators from the national Tea Party Patriots as guest speakers.
The Redlands Tea Party Patriots was started in 2009 when Lane Schneider organized her first rally in 2009. Schneider said when she saw what was happening around the country she wanted to do something about it but did not know exactly what. She turned to the internet and found that people were holding demonstrations around the country. When she contacted a Tea Party group in Rancho Cucamonga it was suggested she start her own in Redlands.
On April 15, 2009, Schneider and long-time friend Dawn Verkaik organized their first tax day rally at the corner of Redlands Boulevard and Orange Street in Redlands. By the next event, a rally opposing the American Care Act, the new group had over 100 participants. This was followed by a town hall meeting with Congressman Jerry Lewis speaking on the Affordable Care Act, to an audience of about 800.
A picture slide show accompanied the presentation and the club's founding cabinet members were invited to the stage to receive their honors. The club's first cabinet included: Schneider, Verkaik, Annie Rumary, Phillip Naman, Steve Stelter, Sandy Ziegler and Peter Dirkson.
The club then heard from national coordinators for the Tea Party Patriots Gregg Cummings and Marie Acosta. Acosta, founder of her own group in Texas, shared with the club a new logo and slogan, "Pursue Your American Dream," adopted by the Tea Party. They are part of a new effort, based on research study, to more positively promote the Tea Party's message and values to people of different opinions.
The new logo comes with three rephrased guiding principles meant to promote the "freedom necessary to pursue the American dream," Acosta said. The new principles are personal freedom, economic freedom and debt free future.
"We've take our founding principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutional limited government and free market and - without watering them down - we have found words that are more personal and will help you find opportunities for amazing conversation with people who aren't with us and change their mind," Acosta said.
"For 'fiscal responsibility' we now have 'debt free future,'" Acosta explained. "Fiscal responsibility is something people associate with paying their bills. I recall talking about debt in my town and seeing people's eyes glaze over, but what really touches people's hearts is when you talk about passing debts on to their children and their grandchildren. People want to take care of their families and leaving a debt free future."
In keeping with the evening's anniversary theme, Gregg Cummings spoke on the Tea Party's success in creating change and active political participation.
"We the people are the movement, the Tea Party Patriots are not the movement. We are all part of the movement," Cummings said. "We are not a political party like the Democrats or the Republicans. We are the people, and we are the authority of this country."
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Redlands Tea Party Patriots celebrate fifth anniversary
(CNN) -
Amy Kremer, the Tea Party Express chairman who's played a major role in elections for the past five years, is resigning.
"This has been a really difficult decision for me, but the time has come for me to leave Tea Party Express," Kremer said Friday.
The group is one of the largest and most politically active national tea party organizations. It got its start in 2009 as a bus tour that crisscrossed the country multiple times as it held rallies and supported conservative candidates.
In the 2012 election cycle, the group partnered with CNN to host the first tea party Republican presidential debate.
The timing of her departure comes as the Tea Party Express plans to spend four days in Florida's 19th Congressional District to support conservative Curt Clawson in a special election.
But Kremer says she doesn't want to dedicate her time to a district that already leans Republican and on a race that will have to take place again in November.
Instead, Kremer will be doing consulting for businessman Matt Bevin, who's challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky's GOP primary on May 20.
"This should be ground zero for the movement," Kremer told CNN. "A U.S. senator definitely has more of an impact on our debt than a congressman that potentially will spend eight months in Washington, and my heart tells me that I should be on the ground focused on competitive Senate races."
Still, Kremer described her split with Tea Party Express as amicable.
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Amy Kremer to resign from Tea Party Express
Updated 10:14 a.m. ET, 4/18/2014
(CNN) Amy Kremer, the Tea Party Express chairman who's played a major role in elections for the past five years, is resigning.
"This has been a really difficult decision for me, but the time has come for me to leave Tea Party Express," Kremer said Friday.
The group is one of the largest and most politically active national tea party organizations. It got its start in 2009 as a bus tour that crisscrossed the country multiple times as it held rallies and supported conservative candidates.
In the 2012 election cycle, the group partnered with CNN to host the first tea party Republican presidential debate.
The timing of her departure comes as the Tea Party Express plans to spend four days in Floridas 19th Congressional District to support conservative Curt Clawson in a special election.
But Kremer says she doesnt want to dedicate her time to a district that already leans Republican and on a race that will have to take place again in November.
Instead, Kremer will be doing consulting for businessman Matt Bevin, whos challenging Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentuckys GOP primary on May 20.
This should be ground zero for the movement, Kremer told CNN. A U.S. senator definitely has more of an impact on our debt than a congressman that potentially will spend eight months in Washington, and my heart tells me that I should be on the ground focused on competitive Senate races.
Still, Kremer described her split with Tea Party Express as amicable.
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First on CNN: Amy Kremer resigns from Tea Party Express