Wisconsin Tea Parties - Summaries From Around the State

Organizers were impressed with attendance Saturday at the second La Crosse area Tea Party to draw attention to lower taxes, smaller government and individual liberty.

About 400 people attended the event at Copeland Park. “We never would have seen these numbers (attending) in the past,” said Mark Block, regional director for Americans for Prosperity.

“I think citizens don’t think elected officials are listening to what they are concerned about in Wisconsin,” Block said.

The July 4 Tea Party was a continuation of the Tax Day Tea Party held April 15 at Riverside Park, organizer Jake Speed said.

“We’ve had a voice and we’ve been speaking out since then” by contacting leaders in Madison and Washington, D.C., Speed said.

Pam Devine was on her way to the front lines of the Citizens for Liberty TEA Party Saturday when she got distracted by a 6-month-old baby in the arms of a military wife.

“Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren are already in debt with our current tax structure,” Devine said, “and they’re not even talking yet.”

The mother, who declined to give her name because her husband is serving in the military, nursed the newborn and talked with Devine, who came to the Rapid City TEA Party during a visit from Arizona and said each baby born in the U.S. is immediately strapped with $70,000 debt.

“It doesn’t matter what part of the country – if you don’t stand up for your rights, you don’t have any,” Devine said.

That concern and many others were voiced Saturday morning in Memorial Park as Citizens for Liberty hosted its second Tax Enough already event this year. It echoed the sentiments of the group’s April TEA Party which attracted almost 1,000 area residents and called for “limited government and constitutional accountability” from the nation’s lawmakers.

Saturday’s event, which took place against the backdrop of the Heritage Festival, included sign waving, a tribute to wounded war veterans and speeches on topics such as socialized medicine and cap-and-trade global warming taxes. Based on counts, organizers said 650 people attended.

State Sen. Gordon Howie, R-Rapid City, emceed the Rapid City rally in Memorial Park after the protest. In an earlier interview, he said the Fourth of July was an especially fitting time for people to voice their concern.

The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were founded on government ideals that America has since strayed from, he said.

Chris and Sue Piotrowski of Wisconsin said they couldn’t agree more. They vacationed in the Hills for the Fourth and brought their 11-year-old son Harry to the event.

The couple said they recently listened to a radio show read part of the Declaration of Independence.

“It’s interesting how far we’ve come from what our founding fathers planned for us,” Sue said. “We have to fight for our freedoms all over again.”

Joining the Piotrowski family and hundreds of sign wavers along Omaha Street, Kim Thompson urged motorists to honk their horns in support. Her list of concerns about President Barack Obama and current policies was long.

The cap-and-trade program, national health care program, union voting card check, and out-of-control-spending were just a few, she said.

Her mother-in-law, Florence Thompson, gripped a cardboard sign that read “Socialism = Slavery.”

“There are many unconstitutional things going on,” Florence Thompson said, but her main concern is the growing national debt.

“The debt is unsustainable,” she said. “The graphs – it looks like a rocket taking off.”

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/07/04/news/top/doc4a4f820c82b54973269027.txt

ALTOONA< WI - It has been nearly three months since the Chippewa Valley Coalition of Tea Parties had it's first protest, but little in the movement has changed, said organizer Micah Stofferahn.

"It's all the same except (the current administration is) pushing for even more," said Stofferahn, 17, of Eau Claire. "There's no changes to our stand, just changes to the way the people running this country are doing things."

"Tea" in the group's name stands for "Taxed enough already." The coalition held its second demonstration Saturday afternoon, in an empty lot on Spooner Avenue.

An estimated 500 to 700 people showed up, mostly in festive Independence Day attire, waving signs that targeted President Barack Obama, taxes and government spending.

Stofferahn said some of the coalition's mounting animosity toward state government comes from the new budget, which was signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat.

"We're not happy with the state budget," Stofferahn said at the event. "It doesn't cost that much money to do the things they're doing.

"It cost us about $1,000 to put on this event. ... If the government would have put it on, it would be $65,000 at least."

The tea party featured refreshments, entertainment and an open-mic opportunity for community members who wished to speak out on just about anything.

Though the coalition's vice president, Logan Nugent, said the tea parties are strictly nonpartisan, much of the public outcry at the event carried conservative themes.

A ventriloquist warmed up the stage with his puppet, Jerry, telling the tale of the United States going wrong when prayer was eliminated in public schools, subsequently upping teenage pregnancy and violent crime and causing a downward spike in SAT scores.

Micah Stofferahn's father, Randy Stofferahn, took the microphone, asking the crowd if they felt more violated by current taxation than by the Sept. 11 attacks, to which the overwhelming roar was "yes."

"It's awareness, getting people fired up," Nugent said. "It's just a big roundup effect that we're trying to get here."

Nugent, 20, of Eau Claire, is a student at Chippewa Valley Technical College and plans on vying for a City Council spot in April.

"Mostly taxes and overspending," Nugent said of the reasons for protesting. "But there's also a lot of other issues.

Democratic state Sen. Pat Kreitlow - who was the subject of many remarks at the event - said he doesn't believe the coalition is nonpartisan, and that many of the problems being protested are the result of the Bush administration.

"I think that I see a lot of frustration that is, to be quite honest, misdirected at people who are trying to solve problems that were caused by eight years of very wrong and very bad ideology and the policies that followed," said Kreitlow, of Chippewa Falls.

Kreitlow said the state budget is the first budget with substantial cuts in state spending that still maintains vital services for struggling families through stimulus dollars.

"I think a lot of the people with the angriest voices come from a selfishly partisan point of view rather than a perspective that says we need to come together to heal our economy," he said.

Well, we didn't get a fair shake in the media here, but that was to be expected, and of course we were painted as racist jerks. Same old, same old.

I'll add more articles as I find them.

Crowds of 500+ for little Cow Towns in Wisconsin is very impressive!

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