Thousands expected at anti-tax rally
By Jim Totten • DAILY PRESS & ARGUS • September 6, 2009
Dick Jacobs works on a sign that says "Wake up America" at a Brighton Township residence, preparing with others for a Tea Party Express protest scheduled for this week. (Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS)
If you're mad as heck with government and don't want to take it anymore, the Tea Party Express wants to release those frustrations.
The tour is coming to the Mill Pond in Brighton at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, and local residents are gearing up for it.
Several busloads of conservative activists have been making a cross-country tour that has been named after the legendary Boston Tea Party, where American colonists dumped tea into Boston Harbor in protest of the British government's policy of taxing them without representation.
Although local supporters said the gathering isn't a Republican rally, it's clear the event is geared toward people with conservative views on health care and government spending.
"It's really not a Republican thing or Democratic thing," said Mike Murphy, chairman of the Livingston County Republican Party and Livingston County undersheriff.
"It's a grass-roots, conservative, anti-tax thing," Murphy said.
Murphy's planning to attend the event, and he expects it will draw several thousand residents.
The Tea Party Express is scheduled to stop in Jackson at noon, Brighton at 3:30 p.m. and Troy at 6:30 p.m.
Murphy said there are a "lot of people who are just normal folk" who are upset with the direction in which government is headed. He said residents are worried about higher taxes when they hear about government plans to administer health-care programs.
"It doesn't make any sense to fix it for a small percentage of folks and burden a larger percentage of folks," he said.
Murphy also said the federal government doesn't have a good track record of running programs successfully.
Marion Township resident Wendy Day, who helped organize a "tea party" in April in Lansing, said she's expecting a huge turnout at the Brighton event. Although she's not organizing the event, she is helping to get the word out about it.
Day said Michigan is probably in the worst shape of all the states, and it's been in trouble for a long time.
"I think people in Michigan are rugged individualists and are embracing the 'tea party' movement because we haven't had good options," she said. "We don't have leadership in Michigan."
Day criticized both parties for their lack of leadership.
"There's nobody on either side of the aisle that is stepping up and leading," she said.
While she expects a lot of Republicans, Day also believes independents and Democrats will attend the event. She hopes this protest will channel this energy into action.
"I hope it would encourage the average citizen, the average taxpayer, to take the country back from the political elite," she said.
Retired high school teacher Irene Bescanon decided to hold a gathering at her house so supporters could make signs. The Brighton Township woman is vice chairwoman of the Livingston County Republican Women's Club and serves on the Livingston County Republican Party Executive Committee.
"We just want to be citizens expressing our opinion of what the government ought to be doing," she said.
Bescanon, who is 65, said she's concerned about health care and doesn't want to be "written off" because she's older.
She favors a plan that would allow individuals to carry their insurance plans wherever they go. She doesn't mind paying for her health care, and she wants to be able to pick her doctor.
Arlene Callaghan, outreach coordinator with the county GOP, dismissed accounts of the "tea party' as gatherings of "angry mobs."
"We're just concerned citizens," the Genoa Township woman said.
Callaghan said residents are worried about rising taxes, Social Security, Medicare and health care.
She hopes people in government listen to what residents have to say at these gatherings.
"I just want to have a voice," Callaghan said.
Contact Daily Press & Argus reporter Jim Totten at (517) 548-7088 or at jtotten@gannett.com.
Dick Jacobs works on a sign that says "Wake up America" at a Brighton Township residence, preparing with others for a Tea Party Express protest scheduled for this week. (Photo by GILLIS BENEDICT/DAILY PRESS & ARGUS) 12pt">
9/8/09 - Brighton Police say they will assign a few extra officers to handle any issues that may arise from this afternoon’s political rally at the Mill Pond. The Tea Party Express is a national tour to protest government spending and high taxes. It will stop at 3:30 this afternoon in downtown Brighton. Among the featured speakers will be Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as “Joe The Plumber”, who came to prominence as a supporter of Senator John McCain in the 2008 Presidential election. The tour began in Sacramento, California on August 28th and will finish with the "Taxpayer March on D.C." this Saturday. Meanwhile, the Livingston County Democrats will gather at Brighton’s Mill Pond at 3pm, just before the Tea Party event. Chairwoman Judy Daubenmier says their gathering will be to support holding down health-care costs and serve as a counter-balance to the Tea Party event. (JK)
Attachment: TPEBrightonRally.pdfAttachment: 2009.09.04HealthCareRallyNewsRelease.doc
