Written by Roberta BirosThere was a TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party in Meadville Pennsylvania today. It was cold . . . it was really cold. It was windy . . . oh heck, it was really windy. The TEA Party DID go on, but it wasn’t an overwhelming crowd or an overwhelming success.
The event was scheduled to begin at 11am. We arrived at 10am, but attendees didn’t really start to show up until 10:55am. The crowd was small at the start, and although it did grow slightly, I’d estimate that the totals never reached 150.
The speakers were many . . . perhaps too many. Some of the speakers overstayed their welcome and it impacted the crowd. It was unfortunate.
There were a number of elected officials and candidates that were patiently waiting for their opportunity to speak, but for most that opportunity never surfaced. There was ONE elected official that took the opportunity to step ahead of everyone else, and it was disturbing.
State Representative Michele Brooks made it clear that her busy schedule required her to be “at a thing”, so she jumped ahead of everyone else. She got up to the podium and promoted herself for a few minutes and then was on her way out as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for the other elected officials and candidates who didn’t use their prestige and clout to bully ahead of the crowd, they were left to wait for an opportunity to speak . . . and wait they did.
The event was scheduled to run from 11am until 2pm. At 2pm, one very long-winded speaker finally wound up his presentation and the crowd began to leave out of disgust. It was at that point that the candidates who had spent their day at the event realized that their opportunity to address a crowd was disappearing.
I left shortly after 2pm after discussing the matter with a number of candidates. It was a shame that candidates that are pressed for time before a very important Primary were not treated with any compassion for their situation. They were all playing fair and they all respected that they were invited guests, but they were tossed aside unfairly by speakers who were unwilling to yield the podium and organizers who failed to control time limits.
There were no formal introductions of those present, but I spotted a number of familiar faces on my own. In the crowd were Daryl Metcalfe (candidate for Lt. Governor), Jean Craig Pepper (candidate for Lt. Governor), and Dr. Martha Moore, Ed Franz, Mike Kelly, Clayton Grabb, and Paul Huber (all candidates for the 3rd Congressional District). I managed to speak with all of them (even if briefly). [Steve Fisher, the last remaining candidate in the 3rd Congressional District, did not attend.]
Congressman Thompson (5th Congressional District) was given the opportunity to address the crowd, and State Representative Brad Roae was left sitting on the sidelines waiting his turn (which I never witnessed).
It was a nice event with well-meant intentions.
Congratulations to the Tea Party organizers for putting their best foot forward . . .
Congratulations to Michele Brooks for once again putting her needs ahead of those of others . . .
and my sincerest sympathies to those candidates and elected officials that spent the day in the cold and wet waiting for an opportunity to connect with voters . . . an opportunity that seemed unattainable today.
As always, just my opinion.
~Mercer Conservatives
BLOG POST UPDATE:
View the summary from WJET-TV in Erie below:
http://yourerie.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=113655
Really? Really! Are you kidding me? WJET-TV in Erie covered the Meadville TEA Party event and they ONLY ONE that gets an interview is MICHELE BROOKS. Seriously? Are you kidding me?
This just goes to show that I did not embellish my summary of the event . . . Representative Michele Brooks was the ONLY ONE that got to speak . . . on camera and off!
(although they seemed to embellish a bit with their estimate of "hundreds" of attendees)
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where was Robbins? did he go to show what a tea partier he is again?
ReplyDeleteNo, Senator Bob Robbins did not attend . . . although he sent signs and bumper stickers. That was good because it meant that there was one less "greedy incumbent" to monopolize the microphone time. If he had gone I'm sure that he would have had "a thing" that would have made him more important than the others too.
ReplyDeletewhat a shame that the candidates didn't get a chance to address the crowd. they only have a week before the election and every minute counts
ReplyDeleteA combination of problems caused a breakdown in the event schedule (my opinion, of course).
ReplyDelete1) There were too many speakers for the 3 hour schedule. A careful calculation should have been made to determine the speech length, and I don’t know if that happened.
2) If a speaker chose to not adhere to presentation length, they should have been politely interrupted, but I didn’t see that either.
3) Elected officials and candidates should have been handled as a group. They should have all had an opportunity to speak after the scheduled presenters. Allowing some elected officials to bully ahead was unfair. The organizers should have held firm to their schedule. If people had “a thing” that prevented them from staying, they should have left without addressing the crowd.
4) Lastly, the weather was a factor. If it had been a nice day, the crowd may have hung around. The cold temperatures made people less patient and less willing to sit and stay past the three hour mark. (FYI: Those of us that stuck around for over 3.5 hours are now "sick in bed" for it.)
Unfortunately, it was a lost campaign day for candidates that have invested personal fortunes into an important political race. With only a week to go before the Primary, candidates are forced to make difficult decisions and they got burned this weekend. In the meantime, incumbents with no opponents (in the Primary anyway!) had an unfair advantage . . . whether it was given or if they just took it by force.
It just goes to show . . . at the point that incumbents are only concerned about their political careers, they are no longer part of the solution.
Let's face it! The most important thing right now is to elect a true conservative in the Republican Primary. The 3rd Congressional Candidates should have been allowed to speak first. The the other speakers.
ReplyDeleteI noticed at the Mercer County Tea Party that people started to leave after the speakers spoke because they did not want to hear the candidates.
They should have let the candidates speak first, but that was up to the organizers.
ReplyDeleteElected officials should suck it up and yield to candidates right now. If they cared about electing the best conservative, that is what would happen. When they jump ahead of everyone else, they prove that they are only concerned about themselves.