Paul Bass Photo
Anti-tax protesters converged on New Haven Harbor for the second April 15th in a row — and found more politicians waiting for them this time.
“Sarah Palin” was one of them. Not the real Fox News/ Tea Party movement heartthrob. Rather, an itinerant Palin impersonator, Patti Lyons of Philadelphia. (Look out Tina Fey!) She showed up on Long Wharf to speak to hundreds of ralliers who gathered at lunchtime Thursday. Afterwards, she was mobbed by fans seeking to pose for pictures.
Real candidates showed up, too. Lots of them.
The occasion was the local version of an annual nationwide Tax Day protest organized by the growing Tea Party movement.
The big question nationally is what role the movement will have on upcoming elections. Will the energy put into angry anti-Obama and anti-health care reform demonstrations translate into votes for Republican candidates at the polls?
By the harbor on Long Wharf Thursday afternoon, candidates for U.S. Congress, Senate, the governor’s office, and the state legislature were banking that the movement has the potential to swing races this fall.
Unlike at last year’s event, enough candidates made the event that organizers created a “Candidates Alley” by the banks of the water. Fourteen different campaigns set up tables, some for candidates with name recognition — leading Republican U.S. Senate candidates Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons, GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Tom Foley — and some you may not have heard of, at least yet. (Hi, I’m Bill Evans! Jeff Cheney! Brad Waslenko!)
Candidates also lined up to address the crowd, which one cop estimated at 500. (See snippets in the video at the top of the story.) Senate hopeful Peter Schiff declared that the founding fathers would have chosen to remain British subjects if they’d known that an income tax was coming.
After his turn at the mic, Republican GOP candidate Mark Boughton discussed the challenge he and politicians face. He said they have to convince Tea Partiers to “channel their frustrations” into electoral work — and to carry their enthusiasm over to local races, not just national ones.
“If we only focus on the federal levels, people who are very energized by this movement are going to miss the big picture,” said Boughton, the mayor of Danbury who has earned a national reputation for cracking down on immigrants in his city. “We should be encouraging political participation. People forget that the best way to serve is at the local level, the state level. That’s a danger. People tend to get apathetic after a certain time. They think their voice doesn’t matter. This passion must translate to activism. Not protests. Activism. Going to the polls. Registering voters.”
Jerry Labriola, Jr., offered to “help” the crowd “dump DeLauro.” He was referring to Democratic U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has held New Haven’s Congressional seat since 1991. Labriola is pictured at the rally with Tom Scott, the Republican who came within 2 percentage points of preventing DeLauro from winning the seat in her first election.
Labriola faces a challenge shared by Republicans nationwide who hope to topple entrenched Democrats: bringing the GOP establishment together with Tea Partiers distrustful of mainstream Republicans. Labriola predicted he could pull it off.
“There has not been a competitive race in 20 years. That’s an unhealthy process,” Labriola, who opposes the health care reform bill that DeLauro championed, said of the district. “The key for me is to unify and energize the Republican establishment base, which I have been doing. I’m trying to forge a coalition with the grassroots movements. If we don’t pull against each other, we have the wind at our backs.”
One indication of the Tea Party’s perceived relevance among Republicans: the presence of Larry DeNardis, who’s running for governor. DeNardis represented the Third Congressional District from 1981 – 2; at the time he pitched himself as a moderate “Gypsy Moth” who works well with Democrats. Thursday he addressed the Tea Party crowd and presented himself as a lifelong bonafide conservative. He offered a ten-point platform; click here to read his positions.
DeNardis called the movement a “powerful force” in politics this year. He was asked about criticisms that Tea Parties have turned up the volume in political debate while drowning out reasoned discourse. “Not the ones I’ve met in Connecticut,” he responded.
He was also asked about death threats against Democrats who voted for the health care reform bill.
“We don’t know that any of that comes from Tea Party members,” he responded. “It’s scandalous to even suggest” a connection.
Martha Dean (pictured), who’s making her second Republican run for attorney general, stressed positions in line with the movement’s anti-government leanings: reducing regulation on business and the number of lawsuits filed by the state.
Much of the debate took place away from the microphone. Ralliers came in costume, with flags, and waved to honking truckers and others zooming by on I‑95 and Long Wharf Drive. Ron Yanyac, who owns a pest control business in Old Saybrook, decorated his hat with Lipton tea bags and brought an anti-tax message. His taxes didn’t rise this year, he said. But he worries that they will soon. Like many Tea Partiers, he’s also upset that Congress passed the TARP bill, aka the Wall Street bailout. Click on the play arrow to see part of his pitch.
Two counterprotesters criticized the gathering for its racial hue and its allegiance to a certain popular cable TV news channel. Police kept them across the street from the rally. The mood on the the rally grounds remained passionate, festive, and freewheeling. It did feel like a party.
