Ohio Liberty Council President: ‘The Reports of Our Death have been greatly exagerated’
Received this self-explanatory email this afternoon (bolds are mine):
Fellow Patriots,
In a March 6th story in the Daily Beast titled “Tea Party ‘Is Dead”: How the movement Fizzled in the 2012′s GOP Primaries” former Ohio Liberty Council President Chris Littleton was accurately quoted as saying:“The Tea Party movement is dead. It’s gone,” says Chris Littleton, the cofounder of the Ohio Liberty Council, a statewide coalition of Tea Party groups in Ohio. “I think largely the Tea Party is irrelevant in the primaries. They aren’t passionate about any of the candidates, and if they are passionate, they’re for Ron Paul.”
I want to make it clear that Mr. Littleton is no longer the President of the Ohio Liberty Council, and is no longer on the Board of Directors of the Ohio Liberty Counsil, and that he does NOT speak for the Ohio Liberty Council Board or its members, and in my opinion is not a “Tea Party leader” as suggested in the article. Mr. Littleton has every right to speak for himself, but he has no right to speak for us.
We can attest that the TEA Party is NOT DEAD, based on the fact, for example, that the Portage County TEA Party, of which I am the Executive Director, now has over 2,200 members. One out of every 59 adults in our county are members, and in the last election we won 65% of the races for which we endorsed. We can attest to the fact that the TEA Party is NOT DEAD, based on the 330 Liberty Groups that now exist in 69 of the 88 counties in Ohio and who have an active membership of over 45,000 members. We can attest to the fact that the TEA Party is NOT DEAD based on the overwhelming victory of Issue 3 last November which was birthed by the Ohio Liberty Counsel and put on the ballot and passed by liberty group members.
Mr. Littleton was trying to get publicity for an esoteric theory he has be trying to promote that suggest that the Tea Party movement was nothing more than a protest movement and that it must die to be re-born as an activist movement. The facts disprove his theory. The TEA Party movement has already morphed from a protest movement into an activist movement and did not have to die to do it. We are now more mature and more engaged that ever before and are setting the political agenda for our nation. All while still retaining our local leadership and community focus. As was shown by recent votes for Rick Santorum, TEA Party members nationwide are still conservative and still fighting the establishment every step of the way – and winning. To paraphrase Mark Twain ” The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated” both by the left and by Mr. Littleton.
Best Regards,
Tom Zawistowski
President
Ohio Liberty CouncilWishful thinking at the Daily Beast, which runs a publication (Newsweek) for which its owner paid $1. It’s not the Tea Party which is dead.
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Issue 3 was not birthed by the Ohio Liberty Council – though it was hijacked by the OLC from the Ohio Project.
So as this statement in the letter is not true, one would have to question the integrity of the remaining statements.
Comment by King — February 10, 2012 @ 4:34 am
#1, possibly very good point, but didn’t OLC “bring it to life” by being the boots on the ground that got the petition signatures to get it on the ballot?
Comment by TBlumer — February 10, 2012 @ 7:54 am
Neither Mr. Littleton nor Mr. Zawistowski were ever seen with a clipboard circulating the Healthcare Freedom Amendment Petition. The “boots on the ground” for the signatures came from the Ohio Project which is a separate organization from the OLC consisting of some Tea Party members and some independent, non-Tea Party members (and some Democrats, too!). Issue 3 was won on behalf of these people despite the efforts to sabotage it by the OLC/GOP and the OFHF.
Comment by Dagny Trinity — February 10, 2012 @ 11:18 am
#3, thank you for that input, though I should note that a car co. exec is never seen assembling cars either.
As to Chris, he was at We The People in July, where I would have signed the petition he presented me if I hadn’t done so already months earlier at some other political event somewhere. He surely got the signatures of others at that event, so at least in that sense I think you’re not being totally fair. … though I don’t remember if there was a clipboard. :–>
Comment by TBlumer — February 10, 2012 @ 11:26 am
History of Issue 3 is easy…
First conversation about a Healthcare Freedom Amendment: Feb of 2010 – Chris Littleton, Joe Bozzi, Jason Rink, Mike Wilson, Joni Wilson, Maurice Thompson, Dan Lillback and Jack Painter at Teller’s in Cincinnati – all co-founders or leaders of OLC with exception of Maurice Thompson, who is the executive director of the 1851 Center.
Private announcement of effort: weekend federal healthcare bill passes, an OLC member groups conference call is held where Maurice’s amendment and citizen initiative proposal is announced. Groups unanimously agree to move forward on launching project.
Alan Witten had been discussing idea with Maurice and Jason Mihalick prior to call. On OLC call – Alan, Jason, Chris, Joe and Steven Carr volunteer to be the ballot committee for the amendment.
OLC member groups gather a couple thousand signatures on Saturday and Sunday, compiling them Sunday and Monday in Columbus.
Public Announcement: We hold monday morning press conference and deliver signatures to AG.
Planning starts: Follow up calls begin with ballot committee and OLC Board talking through launch of signature gathering.
Steven Carr allows group to use his website “Ohio Project” to be the initial landing page to support potential circulators and supporters. Website is circulated amongst OLC member groups – thousands sign up. Ohio Tea Party PAC raises money and funds entire start up.
With Steven’s permission, Alan Witten and ballot committee then incorporate “The Ohio Project” with the single purpose of gathering signatures for the amendment. The ballot committee becomes the board of the Ohio Project – Alan, Chris, Steven, Joe and Jason.
Next stages: AG approves langauge, but Jennifer Brunner (former secretary of state) blocks the amendment at the ballot board hearing. Maurice and 1851 sue to have language approved, winning in Ohio Supreme Court in Ohio Liberty Council v. Brunner.
In May of 2010, signature gathering officially begins drawing regional and county coordinators from OLC member groups than later others.
Signature gathering: structure, people and efforts grow and gather signatures from May of 2010 – April of 2011. All volunteers for the effort the entire time.
Creation of a new organization: In April/May of 2011 – it becomes clear the volunteers will not be able to gather enough signatures to submit for July, and would have to continue into summer.
Money needs to be raised to pay signature gatherers to help get over the finish line, and fund the formal campaign into November.
Ohio Project board agrees they do no want to manage any paid effort or the campaign. Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom is created to handle money for signature gathering and campaign activities.
Paid firm is hired which gathers just over 100K in signatures. Ballot access is secured. Lawsuit from progress Ohio over signatures. Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom funds the defense and wins.
Campaign starts: campaign efforts specific to Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom cut ads, media push, make over a million live calls, knock hundreds of thousands of doors, etc, etc – all typical campaign activities.
Lots of other independent groups and effort support issue as well.
Results: Issue 3 wins 66% of the vote, largest margin of victory for any citizen initiative in Ohio history. Also wins every single county.
This is a significantly abbreviated version of this story, but wanted to provide some context for the whole conversation.
PS – Yes, I did gather a few hundred signatures, but that wasn’t my focus. I focused on resources for the whole effort at the strategic level – money, infrastructure, talent, etc.
Been there since the beginning and every step of the way…
Have a great week.
Chris Littleton
Comment by Chris Littleton — February 15, 2012 @ 10:24 pm
Glad you got your comment in before I closed them off. Thanks for the perspective. I still don’t think your Tea Party is dead comment was well-advised.
Comment by TBlumer — February 15, 2012 @ 10:47 pm