There is a lot to cover in this post, so we hope you will read through to the end.
Our Board of Directors and a dozen or so members attended the 2010 Virginia Tea Party Patriots convention in Richmond this past weekend. We took the opportunity of this gathering of Tea Party folks across the Commonwealth to unveil the Freedom For Virginians Act. This Act was written and proposed within our Board to give powers of nullification to the Virginia state government in the face of unsconstitutional usurpation of our 9th and 10th Amendment rights by the federal government.
Unsurprisingly, the various Tea Party groups and individual lovers of liberty in attendance were very supportive of this proposal, but the politicians were not. In fact, our Attorney General issued a pre-emptive broadside just before the convention in the Wall Street Journal.
A number of constitutional scholars have since taken the AG to task online, perhaps most notably Tom Woods on the Lew Rockwell blog . Woods also posted the FFVA on his Facebook page with the following verbiage: “Now here’s something of value from the Tea Party, a local chapter of which devised this nullification initiative.”
You can read more about this proposal on the official FFVA web site.
While not addressing FFVA by name, our President Chip Tarbutton gave a rousing address at the convention on Saturday about the need for state governments to “interpose” themselves between an overreaching federal government and its citizens.
Way to go Chip! You can watch his speech online.
We will need a lot of help in getting statewide support for this measure, especially heading into the 2011 Virginia elections. With that in mind, we are arranging a pair of fundraisers in the next few weeks to inform Roanoke-area citizens about the FFVA, and ask for financial assistance in getting it passed.
Please consider attending one of these events, and sharing the news with your friends and family.
Saturday, October 23 at 7:00 pm – Freedom Dinner at Parker’s Seafood.
Enjoy a fine dinner and hear from a number of Virginia Patriots about the need for the FFVA legislation. Speakers include Sonnie Johnson (VA President of the Frederick Douglas Foundation), Mike Powell (Tea Party Candidate for Roanoke City Council), and Greg Aldridge (Roanoke Tea Party Board member and primary author of the Freedom For Virginians Act).
Tickets are $40 each, or $70 per couple. Seating is limited so please RSVP soon to patriot@freedomforvirginiansact.org.
Tuesday, November 2 at 7:00 pm – Incumbent Retirement Celebration.
We are planning an election night party where we can all get together to watch the election returns come in, and cheer on the involuntary retirement of entrenched incumbents across the Commonwealth and the USA. The location has not yet been locked down, but please save the date and plan to join us as we witness the wave election of 2010!
Look for more details on our web site, and in future email communication. This promises to be a fun, joyful and memorable event.
Both the Freedom Dinner and the Incumbent Retirement Celebration will serve as fundraising vehicles for the Roanoke Tea Party and the Freedom For Virginians Act.
We announced the results of our candidate vetting for the 6th District Congressional race at the October 7 meeting. No candidate was endorsed, but all three were ranked according to their record and/or likelihood to uphold their oath to defend the Consitution.
Stuart Bain, the Libertarian candidate – and a member of the Roanoke Tea Party – received our highest ranking. A press release with this information was distributed to the local media, and has gotten good play in the Roanoke Times and WFIR.
You can read the details on our web site.
Also at the October meeting, Shirley Clemmer announced her willingness to take over responsibilities for our regional Community Outreach program. This will include our volunteer work with The Rescue Mission, and she is looking for suggestions for other organizations with whom we might work.
Shirley agreed with our original premise that volunteer outreach would not only gives us a positive impression in parts of the community where our message isn’t heard, but also demonstrate the power of individuals to affect real change in people’s lives. Clean Valley Council, Baptist Mission Center and Meals on Wheels were among the organizations she thinks would be good candidates for us to consider.
She envisions doing something quarterly, and asked that anyone with ideas about other outreach opportunities, or anyone who might like to volunteer, please contact us.
Our next public meeting will be held on Thursday, November 4 at 6:30 pm. We will meet at our new monthly location at the River’s Edge Ramada Inn in Roanoke.
The Ramada is located at 1927 Franklin Road, just south of the intersection with Wiley Drive, near the River’s Edge Sports Complex. We will meet in their new conference room; just enter the main lobby, and the conference room is to the back, and then left.
Thanks again to everyone who has supported the Tea Party in 2010.
