Turning the tables

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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/is_michigans_mysterious_tea_party_a_sham_organizat_1.php

Is Michigan's Mysterious 'Tea Party' A 'Sham Organization' Hatched By Dems?
Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 28, 2010, 8:29AM


A mysterious "tea party" is causing a stir in Michigan politics this summer. It doesn't sound like the conservative-backed tea party you've heard so much about this year, and better known elements of the movement are disavowing it. To hear many political watchers in Michigan tell it, the new Michigan Tea Party -- which has submitted 60,000 signatures to the state in an attempt to get on the ballot, mostly in races where Democrats are facing tough Republican opposition -- is nothing but a Democrat-hatched plot to siphon votes from the right and help Dem candidates win.

The state Democrats have denied any involvement in the Michigan Tea Party.

Founded by a retired UAW worker in Thumb, Michigan, named Mark Steffek, the Michigan Tea Party is trying to field "23 candidates for offices ranging from Secretary of State to Oakland County Commission," the Detroit Free Press reported yesterday. Steffek says the party's for real, though he doesn't want to talk much about it. The Free Press only managed to snag an interview with him earlier this month after "weeks of avoiding the media," and even that didn't shed much light on the mystery.

Steffek says his party is focused on "concern over deficit spending and government debt, but is also opposed to free trade agreements like NAFTA that he believes cost American jobs." Those are all solidly tea party issues. But the man helping Steffek get the party off the ground is a former Democratic party operative and aide to former Gov. James Blanchard (D). That fact, coupled with other nuggets about the party, like Steffek's refusal "to identify the source of tens of thousands of dollars" that paid for a 60,000-name signature drive that got the party on the ballot, has left many conservatives in the state crying foul.

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:rofl:

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1. Kick

and shameless at that.