GOP Palin Dinner Rumbles

[HipChick]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/01/04/20100104tea-party-convention-palin-CP.html

POLITICO has learned that Phillips obtained a $50,000 loan to pay a deposit towards the $100,000 fee Washington Speakers Bureau charged to secure Palin as the keynote speaker at the convention. Much of the loan came from Bill Hemrick, a baseball card tycoon whose loan contract didn't call for interest but did set a deadline last week for repayment, which Phillips missed.

American Majority, a leading training outfit for tea party organizers, canceled two planned sessions at the convention and withdrew its sponsorship after learning about the convention's for-profit structure and the criticisms of Phillips.

"Who is this guy? What are his motivations? And what gives him the credibility to try to step in and insert himself as a leader of the movement?" Ned Ryun, president of American Majority, said he started wondering of Phillips.

Another former sponsor, the American Liberty Alliance, cited as a red flag Tea Party Nation's use of PayPal accounts linked to Phillips' wife's e-mail address to process ticket payments.

Phillips, a 50-year-old self-described "small-town lawyer," got an early start in the tea party movement, helping to organize a February protest in Nashville and later establishing an online social network for activists. After incorporating Tea Party Nation, he pitched the idea for a national convention and set out in search of funding.

His search led him to Hemrick, a 69-year-old retiree who made a small fortune as one of the founders of The Upper Deck Company, which revolutionized the baseball card industry in the late 1980s with expensive hologram-stamped cards.

Hemrick had occasionally donated to conservative candidates and causes, but said "this is the first time that I've gotten actively involved in something trying to make a difference." He wanted to bring Palin to Nashville to try to unite tea party activists "and get them going in one direction," he explained.

She has already taken some heat for the $100,000 contract Tea Party Nation signed with Washington Speakers Bureau — which Hemrick said requires either first-class airfare or a private jet to fly her to the event.


http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/01/lane-county-gop-drops-a-big-chunk-to-draw-sarah-palin.html?cid=6a00d8341c2c3f53ef0120a7f9da88970b

LaneWatchdog has recently received reports of dismay in the rank and file members of the local GOP. It appears that the financial details of the Sarah Palin visit have been leaked to the press and other media outlets as a protest of the high fees charged for the upcoming Lincoln Day Dinner. LaneWatchdog has been forwarded what looks like a summary of an administration email stating that the speaker's fee for Palin is a whopping $75,000 -- not the $34,000 plus "security deposit" uncovered by BlueOregon's Carla Axtman -- and that the local GOP plans to triple that amount through plate fees at the event to fill their depleted coffers. It also states that the Oregon GOP has to lend Lane funds to secure the speaker.
Rank and file members are up in arms over the reported $250 per person fee charged to each member. While the annual Lincoln Day dinner celebrates the founding principles of the party, many working class members may not be able to attend due to economic cuts, job losses, and poor market conditions.
Since breaking this story , LaneWatchdog has received several emails stating that the reservation lists at the GOP office for the event are being filled by out of town and even out of state attendees, leaving many local Republican members without a seat at the table even if they could afford to go.

Allegedly a special segregated area for lower income conservatives will be available at the event, for those who prefer to only pay $100 and watch Palin's speech on a video feed. "I love Sarah Palin," one emailer to LaneWatchdog stated, "but if she knew what these creeps were up to I'd bet she wouldn't show up." Another wrote, "It's no longer the back of the bus... it's more like the back of the ballroom, down the hall, and crammed in the video feed room like second-class Republicans." In a party that has recently been criticized on its aloof attitude and "country club" vs. "NASCAR" Republican infighting, it seems to be another bump in the road on the journey to reinvent the Republican Party.

[jasi2006]

1. Pretty soon the "lower income conservatives" will realize how they

are being used to act against their own self-interest. I hope they can see beyond their bigotry and Limbaugh love to wake up.

[MidwestTransplant]

3. Unfortunatley I doubt it.

[blogslut]

2. Ha! I knew it!

As for that Palin-loving emailer, what rube.

Mrs. Ex-Governor lady ain't showing up to that lil' shindig and it won't be because of a moral stance. It will be because they couldn't meet her price.

[gratuitous]

6. You know what Mrs. Palin should do with that exorbitant speaker fee?

Fling it right back in the faces of the multi-millionaires!

Instead, the bank will have trouble cashing the check because of the scorch marks.

[Tippy]

4. I read yesterday that TN teabaggers are protesting their convention

This week-end in Nashville I don't remember where I read this...but will check around...

[Tippy]

5. This is what I read....

Meanwhile, about 50 local tea party leaders from across Tennessee are planning to attend a sort of counter-convention caucus set for this Saturday in Nashville, while some activists are discussing staging protests outside next month’s convention, which will be held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31816.html#ix...