Tea Party protests around the state attract hundreds

By: Phil Drake and Michael Noyes | 2010-04-15

     Tea Party rallies statewide Thursday brought repeated choruses demanding change at every level of government, warning lawmakers to rein in spending, oppose the new health-care plan and to strictly adhere to the Constitution.

     “If you can’t make them see the light make them feel the heat,” proclaimed a sign held by one protester on the lawn at the base of the steps leading up to the state Capitol in Helena.

     “We’re not Republicans, we’re not Democrats,” Jay Anderson of the Big Sky Tea Party Association told about 250 people gathered for the Tax Day protest that ran for more than two hours. “The Tea Party has a 1-year history and we want to be heard.”

     It was one of hundreds of Tax Day protests nationwide, organized by the Tea Party movement.
In Helena, people held signs proclaiming: “The Inmates are Running the Asylum” and “You can’t help the poor by destroying the rich.”

     A highlight was a Montana-style reenactment of the Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which colonists protesting a tax on tea dumped the tea into Boston Harbor.

     In the Helena version, people wrote their grievances against government on a cardboard box and then stomped the boxes flat on the sidewalk. Some spoke against welfare, the new health-care plan passed by Congress, higher taxes and increased government spending.

     Among those at the event was Elaine Baner.

     “The taxes are horrible,” the 68-year-old Montana City resident said as she clutched a protest sign.

     “We have to pay taxes on Social Security, our property taxes are going higher and higher, and there’s Obamacare. I am frightened.”

     She said she was not a Tea Party member – yet.

     “I am going to join today.”

     In Bozeman, around 500 attended the Tea Party event, according to Henry Kriegel who helped organize the protest.

     The group initially gathered on the lawn of the Bozeman Public Library and marched several blocks to the Gallatin County Courthouse where several speakers addressed the crowd. In addition to the speeches, the event featured a symbolic “budget cutting ceremony” where a participant used a chain saw to cut a log back to pre-George W. Bush spending levels as a cardboard cutout of John Wayne looked on.

     Speakers were critical of spending by both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Scott Sales, the Republican leader in the state House of Representatives, read a laundry list of taxes the government collects. He told the audience government doesn’t need more revenue.

     “The problem is we have too much spending,” Sales said. “It’s time we made a change.”
    
     In Bozeman, one woman carried the iconic campaign poster of Obama through the crowd in seeming protest. When asked about the Tea Party she gave a thumbs down but declined comment.

     As the event in Bozeman wrapped up, Tea Party organizers in Great Falls were readying for a rally at the Civic Center at 4:30 p.m. Jack Lien, who helped organize the event in Great Falls said they were hoping for at least as many participants this year as the 500 to 600 who attended last year.
    
     “We’re getting more interest this year,” Lien said. “People are starting to pay attention, and they’re not liking the out of control government…”
    
     At the Helena event Montana businessman Steve Daines drew an audible gasp from the crowd when he said Washington, D.C. insiders told him that Montana’s  two senators were more liberal than Massachusetts’ senators. He called for a return to conservative principles.

     “We must win this battle no matter how long it takes and how hard it might be,” Daines, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2008, said.

     The Helena event also served as a campaign rally as several candidates seeking office in November rallied the crowd to support them.

     “I’m not a politician, I’m not great at speaking, but I am willing to stand up for the people,” said Kristi Allen-Gailushas, who is running for  House District seat 82.

     Off to the side of the rally stood Dave Gallik, a Democrat running for senate District seat 40.
Gallik had a sign that read “Coffee Counter” tacked onto a table. He invited folks to come over for a jolt of free coffee and an earful of the other side.

     “There’s one side of the story,” Gallik said. “But there’s also the other side.”

      He said he want to ask the protesters what government services they would want cut if decreases had to be made.

     “Would you let people out of prison?”  he asked.

     Tea Party officials said they had asked Gallik if he wanted to address the rally, but he declined. Several candidates for various offices also addressed the Tea Party even in Bozeman.
One of the highlights of the Helena protest included a telephone call from Tim Ravndal, a Big Sky Tea Party member who attended the rally in Bozeman.

     “You guys keep rocking the Capitol steps,” he said. “We’ll do the same here.”

     The Tea Party movement may trace its roots to CNBC’s “Squawk Box” show on Feb. 19, 2009, when financial news analyst Rick Santelli criticized President Obama for what Santellia claimed was unfairness for his $75 billion housing bailout proposal. He said the idea promoted “bad behavior.” Santelli said he was thinking of having a tea party in Chicago that July to protest.

     In late March, a USA Today/Gallup poll found that little more than 25 percent of Americans say they are supporters of the Tea Party movement.

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