Roanoke Tea Party

We had several hundred people show up for tonight’s Tea Party business meeting.

I wanted to throw out a few immediate take aways…..

The Good…

The turnout surpassed out expectations. Thank You.

There was no push back on the need for a membership fee of $25 a year. We signed up around 30 people. This will really help us…

I think people are generally comfortable with the direction we are going in and our successes. More national coverage of our victory on the Health Care Freedom Act.

Opportunity Areas:

An old boss once told me that you never get better from people telling you how good you are. So here are my initial thoughts on improvements.

• A bigger venue:  I was going to announce the next meeting date but our library meeting site is woefully inadequate for our needs. I had several kind souls come up after the meeting with suggestions. I will sort those out as soon as possible. If you couldn’t make it due to parking/room size, we sincerely apologize.
• Too many politicians: I wanted to get the word out about upcoming mass meetings. I really believe those meetings are an opportunity for us to get our agenda moved forward. And I had some folks who I know are solid conservatives talk that up. While I think there was some value added, I got some pointed feedback there was too much of that. ..and I think that feedback is correct. On the bright side, some of the interactions where illustrative of why there are so many disenchanted former GOP members in our ranks.
• Not enough specific action items to give to new members: We weren’t sure people would buy into “business model” so we didn’t adequately plan for how to harness the energy in the room to move our agenda forward.

I have a long drive home so I had time to think through some action items based on what I heard tonight….these are just a starting point..feel free to give me different ideas…or disagree with these….just putting it out there to start the conversation.

• We need to form a group to put together our strategy for impacting the 2010 Congressional Races.
  • How to deal with Goodlatte if he is unopposed? How do we ensure he is supporting our agenda.
  • Should we throw resources into the 5th district to help unseat Tom Periello?
  • I’d like to bring in Mark Lloyd from the Lynchburg Tea Party to talk to us about what is happening in their district…it is a very interesting story and they may really need our support. Periello has got to go.
• State Legislation
  • What’s the best way to impact that…as a first step I urge all of you to get on the mailing list for the Tertium Quids and the The Va 10th Amendment Revolution sites. They provide invaluable information on state issues in the form of email updates. Please indicate you are with the Roanoke Tea Party when you sign up. We have been working with the our state partners to push agenda items in a coordinated way….is that all we need to do?
• Local Politics
  • Do we need to form groups to stay connected to our local groups. All of the local groups are listed here on our site. We need to be involved with them without being controlled by them. I can see breaking down our membership by area and getting people to really push local groups. But what’s the best way???sounds like a good project.
• Membership drives and rally planning:
  • What events to participate in…what is the agenda….and handle the nitty gritty logistics. Lots of opportunity areas to get involved here.
• Do want to be focused on electing good officials, or promoting good legislation. Should we focus our energies on pushing for items like Term limits, or focus on electing officials who are supportive…or both….We need to figure that one out…
• Do we need a “SWAT Team” who can quickly organize events/protests/responses on key issues?

Those are my initial ideas for a very meaty March meeting.

Here’s our list of promised items: (If I leave something off…I’m doing this from memory so let me know)

1. Firm up and communicate the March Meeting
2. Get a members only page with the bylaws, meeting minutes, etc. Make the site more interactive…
3. Get our online store up and running
4. Set up a way to join on line. Have a paper registration form.
5. Develop a protocol so we know who is a paying member when it comes time to vote.
6. I’ll make sure the March meeting is politician speech free…politicians are welcome but they need to listen not talk.

We really appreciate your patience as we strive to build an organization that can be the watchdog group for our basic principles. Never again can we let our guard down….and the Tea Party movement is the vehicle to ensure that eternal vigilence.

You comments below are welcome.

Also feel free to contact me at chip.tarbutton@gmail .com

Thank You for a good start….

Chip Tarbutton

President: Roanoke Tea Party