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That’s the kind of remark that publicly links the “Tea Party” Movement to the GOP, but to “grassroots” patriots, it’s like inviting an elephant for a cup of tea to Boston Harbor on Dec. 16, 1773. The pachyderm is in the way and out of place.
“Tea Party Express” (TPE) is the brainchild of the Republican public relations firm Russo, Marsh and Rogers (RMR) in Sacramento, CA. TPE franchise partners include Our Country Deserves Better PAC, MarkTalk (Mark Williams, vice-chairman of OCDB/PAC), the Howard Jarvis Tax Payers Association, Grassfire. org and ResistNet.com.
TPE/OCDB political action committee is a major golden goose for RMR, raising $1.9 million in 2009 with “76% of Our Country DeservesBetter PAC’s $1.33 million total spending for the period of June through November 2009 (going to) Russo, Marsh and Rogers or entities closely associated with it.” (See www.smirkingchimp.com or TPMmuckraker and a Dec. 28, 2009 article by Zachary Roth for Talking Points Memo.)
Mark Williams is a prominent spokesman for the TPE and has a history of provocative, manic pronouncements. They range from a September 2009 email deriding President Barack Obama as “our half white, racist president”, to being on the ear-piece end of a freak-out by MSNBC host Dyland Ratigan (March 2) scolding Williams for not rooting out “wingnuts” and people who want to “kill blacks and Jews.” Williams was left speechless, but Ratigan got a self-proclaimed “tea partier” tarred and feathered with the “R” word.
Williams also likes to align himself with the “grassroots” Tea Party Patriots<sup>TM</sup> (TPP). In his self-published book, “Taking Back America One Tea Party at a Time,” Williams identifies himself as “…one of the founding Tea Party Patriots and the chairman of the now-famous Tea Party Express.” (Search www.lulu.com).
That’s like saying Royal Massachusetts Gov. Thomas Hutchinson was a Son of Liberty. He refused to let three ships off-load in Boston Harbor without paying the colonial tea tax. (The Sons of Liberty did the job on Dec. 16, 1773).
When it comes to winning elections, few firms can match the success of Russo Marsh + Rogers, Inc.
The experience of RM+R’s staff is one of the greatest advantages you get when you recruit the Russo Marsh + Rogers team of political professionals and campaign experts.
The principals and associates at RM+R have been involved in more than 350 campaigns at the local, state, federal and international levels.
In addition to our experience in almost every state in the nation and in countries such as Nicaragua and the Ukraine, the expertise of RM+R’s staff extends to every aspect of campaign strategy and design.
Russo Marsh + Rogers, Inc.
770 L Street, #1400
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: (916) 441-3734
Fax: (916) 441-6057
Sales: 1,449,000
Number of employers: 9
Owner: Sal Russo
The Web site address MoveAmericaForward.com was registered to Russo’s right-leaning political consulting/public affairs firm, Russo Marsh & Rogers. The firm had previously registered and designed the Web site DumpBarbaraLee.com, part of a vitriolic campaign against Representative Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against a wide-ranging “war on terror” resolution in the aftermath of the September 2001 attacks.
Russo Marsh & Rogers’ political work includes consulting for the Recall Gray Davis campaign, media work for businessman Bill Simon’s 2002 California gubernatorial run, and directing the election campaigns of such Republican notables as U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, New York Governor George Pataki, then-New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman, and U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch’s short-lived presidential run in 2000.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
