From the BTP website
New news at the top 24 July 2008 The national committee has unanimously approved our new North Carolina affiliate. Good work guys! We now have 189 members of this site.
22 July 2008 Our Facebook group has something in common with the show “Room 222,” speaking of things long ago. We now have 222 members there. Kinda cool. North Carolina’s state affiliate is one vote away from required unanimous consent of the national committee – they already have more than 50 members!
20 July 2008 On this day in 1969, an American walked on the Moon, thanks to an enormous undertaking which started by holding guns against the heads of many Americans to make them pay taxes. To no one’s surprise, the government still holds guns to our heads, but nobody gets to go to the Moon.
19 July 2008 Our Indiana affiliate has endorsed Andy Horning for governor of that state.
18 July 2008 Christopher Cole has been endorsed by majority vote of the national committee. He is running for the USA Senate from North Carolina. By majority vote of our Texas affiliate, John Roemer for Brazos county tax assessor is endorsed. By unanimous consent of our Texas affiliate, Ron Darby for statehouse is endorsed.
16 July 2008 Our Colorado affiliate is meeting formally to endorse Bo Shaffer who has been approved by the members of that committee meeting by e-mail exchange. The national committee has endorsed Susan Hogarth for North Carolina statehouse by majority vote, and is considering a new motion to endorse Christopher Cole for US Senate from North Carolina. The North Carolina state affiliate is organising tonight in an online chat session.
admin note, 16 July 2008 — thanks to the work of various members, we now have groups on four social networks — so they have their own page.
16 July 2008 New Facebook groups for California, DC, and Illinois suggest that we can expect new affiliates in those places soon. The interim chair’s goal is to have 50 state affiliates by the end of his term in October. North Carolina’s Facebook group has 49 members. Their first meeting is coming up later tonight.
The national Facebook group now has over 200 members. This site shows 165 members of the party.
14 July 2008 Happy Bastille Day, everyone. The Boston Tea Party’s national committee has unanimously endorsed the application of the Louisiana state affiliate. Laissez les bon temps roulez! Let the good times roll!
By majority vote both Lisa Leeds and Daniel Lewis are endorsed by the national committee. The state of Alabama affiliate, the Alabama Statesmen, have endorsed Darryl Perry for US Senate. Darryl is a Boston Tea Party candidate and will be filing as a write-in candidate unless we qualify for ballot status there.
Our Facebook page now has more than 190 members.
13 July 2008 The Michigan affiliate of the Boston Tea Party has endorsed Jason Gatties for Lake Michigan college board and their Vice Chair, Neil Kiernan Stephenson, for Michigan’s U.S. congressional seat, 10th District. Two additional endorsements, Lisa Leeds and Daniel Lewis, are under consideration by the national committee.
New logos for the states where we have affiliates have been created. Over 180 people have joined our Facebook group. One vote remains for approving Louisiana’s state affiliate. Our Florida team put the papers in for Charles Jay to appear on the ballot there.
12 July 2008 Good news, Colorado has officially placed us on the ballot there, with Charles Jay as our presidential candidate. I’m told that our former vice chair, Tom Stevens, is also on the ballot in Colorado as the presidential candidate for the Objectivist Party.
11 July 2008 Our Facebook group has grown to 175 members. We also have a presence on MySpace. We now have 155 members registered on this site. The party has sent out a press release on our first batch of endorsed candidates. Candidates seeking endorsement should click on “join” at the top of the page so we can be sure you agree with our platform. (There’s always no fee to join the party.)
We continue to hunt for people to organize state affiliates and for money to pay for signature gathering now going on in several states. We should have our Louisiana affiliate approved, soon.
10 July 2008 Facebook at 170.
9 July 2008 The national committee has endorsed Tom Knapp’s candidacy for Congress in Missouri. BTP has 159 members of our Facebook group. Our North Carolina group’s Facebook page is growing fast, too!
8 July 2008 Some wag has suggested that the national committee endorse LP candidate for USA Congress from Missouri Tom Knapp. Seems likely he accepts the platform since he wrote it.
7 July 2008The national committee has endorsed the candidacies of Straus, Casarjian-Perry, and Rhodes, so far. If your state affiliate wants to handle the work, see the thread at node 165 on other candidates for a good starting point. If you don’t have a state affiliate in your state, why not organize one? And if you are a candidate and would like our endorsement, send us a note about how you view our party’s platform.
Jim Y. Casarjian-Perry is a member of the Boston Tea Party and an elected official in Billerica, Massachusetts. He has accepted our platform and requested endorsement of the national committee. He is also bringing members of his Liberty Party into a Boston Tea Party affiliate for Massachusetts.
It has been moved and seconded that the national committee of the Boston Tea Party endorse Phil Rhodes for Lt. Governor of North Carolina. In addition to Kent, who moved, and Todd, who seconded, Jim, Elle, and Michelle have voted for this motion, so far. Since such motions do not require unanimous approval, the motion carries. Jumping on the same bandwagon, Morey Straus has agreed with our platform and requested our endorsement. Morey is running for statehouse in New Hampshire, also as an LP candidate. http://youtube.com/watch?v=__fQBgCQ-44
Moved, seconded, and approved.We now have more than 155 members of our Boston Tea Party Facebook group. Thanks to everyone who signed up there. We want money for the Alabama ballot initiative to go directly to professional signature gatherers. Contact the chairman for details. We are now seeking a Mississippi member to help organize a state affiliate there.
State affiliates may endorse candidates from other parties if each candidate accepts our party platform. Discussion at thread http://bostontea.us/node/165 here.
5 July 2008 Today is the IndyTruth interview with Tom Knapp and Darryl Perry. Scroll down for details, or check the events calendar at right.
We are now soliciting contributions for the Alabama ballot initiative to go directly to professional signature gatherers. Contact the chairman for details. We are now seeking a Mississippi member to help organize a state affiliate there.
4 July 2008 We have activists interested in forming state affiliate groups in Kansas, North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, and Wyoming. If you would like to organize an affiliate for your state, please let me know. We are especially interested in Louisiana and Tennessee.
The national committee has unanimously approved the Florida affiliate. Congratulations to our Florida team. Florida becomes our eighth state affiliate.
We now have 130 members for our Facebook group. About 150 members are registered on this site.
Your humble transition chair asks that each of you recruit one person to join our party here on this site, or on Facebook. Tell your friends! The freedom you create may be your own.
Charles Jay has updated his campaign site. http://www.cj08.com/
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New Mexico became our seventh affiliate today with the unanimous approval of the national committee. Mike Blessing is the contact for that state.Our Facebook group topped 100 members yesterday. We’ve spawned several state affiliate groups on Facebook, and two events. Darryl Perry added an event to get Boston Tea Party on the ballot in Alabama, and I added an event for 24 October – our national convention to elect officers and adopt a new program, as well as any bylaws changes the members seek.
We have a new state affiliate completely formed in Florida, though they have not yet requested formal approval by the national committee. John Wayne Smith heads the party there, and there are quite a few people subscribed to their Yahoo group. We should be on the ballot there by the first part of July. Assuming the Colorado government approves our application for ballot access, Florida would give us two states.
Alabama requires five thousand valid signatures, and Darryl has begun the signature gathering process there. We would like members who are willing to donate money to send it directly to the professional signature gatherers in that state, contact me for details. We’ll likely need to submit about 7,500 or more to be sure enough are valid.
Rhode Island might be a good state to visit for signature gathering. I don’t know if we have any members from that state. They only require a thousand valid signatures.
Louisiana is similar to Colorado with a filing fee and a small number of electors. Tennessee requires about 275 valid signatures, and we would need 11 electors. Now would be a good time to organize a Tennessee affiliate if any members there are interested.
Another good prospect is North Dakota. There signature requirement is a few thousand, but we would need very little extra since everyone who lives there is registered to vote, so nearly everyone’s signature would be valid. But, of course, we have no organization in North Dakota.
So, anyone from any of the states where we do not yet have state affiliates would be welcome to contact anyone on the national committee about starting one in your area. Some states are easier than others for ballot access.
Remember, the more we do this year to build momentum, the more people we’ll rally to our banner. Which ought to lead to better results in 2010 and 2012. Keep up the good work, and press forward.
Don’t forget to make some trouble for the powers that be. If there is any chartered monopoly tea that badly needs to be ditched in the harbor, I’m counting on each of you to be a part of that effort.
Here’s a link to Tom Knapp’s latest blog.
http://myfrontporchcampaign.blogspot.com/Any candidate seeking the endorsement of the Boston Tea Party should contact the state affiliate in your state, or form one.
Come on, now, inD…
Andy has been a leader in the property tax protest movement which has become huge over the last year in Indiana. The Democrat and Republican candidates want to continue property taxation on top of our sales and income taxes. The two major parties have destroyed our state constitution. They are neglecting to fund education in a fair and legal manner. Now they are proposing a state takeover of all township and county governments to make them more “efficient,” removing 90% of the state’s elected offices. The people of Indiana are angry about these issues and Andy is the only candidate who actually opposes them. Like I said, if we get him the funding he needs and if he is included in the debates, Andy can win this election.
inDglass, what makes you say “…I believe he has a legitimate shot at winning…”? Do you have polling? What? Tom’s spin doesn’t count.
The Andy Horning nomination is very exciting. Check out his campaign site and his blog. Andy is on the ballot as a Libertarian and is the only third party choice for governor on the ballot. He is running a serious campaign and I believe he has a legitimate shot at winning if we can get him the money and debate inclusion.