April 15th Tea Party. Elected officials. Take note. The tea party has just begun

While the April 15th Tea Party rallies for some is yesterdays news, it is not for those of us living in CA. As I covered events in both Santa Ana and Mission Viejo, CA on Wednesday there were participants who asked “what can we really do about this” out of control spending at the federal and state levels of government?

Guerilla warfare. Let’s begin with an obvious “objective.” Let those in elected office know that we are angry as hell and will not take it much longer. On April 15th they heard us. The problem is the clock. They now honker down hoping the storm clouds pass without any damage.
This takes me to one example of political “strategy & tactics.” Recall of elected officials. One person who is still looking for his name in the newspaper and in the blogs every day is CA Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams of the 59th AD representing cities in the San Gabriel Valley of LA. It will take 36,000 valid signatures within his District to get the recall on a ballot. I am confidant that he will eventually be recalled for breaking his pledge not to vote for a tax increase.

Our next effort in CA is to defeat Props 1A-1F in the upcoming Statewide Special Election being held on May 19th. My sense is that there will be a very light turnout; somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 percent. The Ballot Measure supporters are very clever with their initial campaign literature that just arrived in our mail box. The front page states “Local leaders agree: It’s time to limit state spending.” No kidding Charlie Brown. Did we need to be reminded of their excess?

Strategy. Make sure that the individual event organizers have contact information of those who attended the rallies so that we can keep connected. “Grass roots” networking is priceless.

Tactics. Hold rallies every week for the next four weeks and not let the momentum evaporate.  You need to be active to get media coverage. April 15th is now old news.

Monitor http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty/california to see if Mark has future events in the pipeline. I plan to copy him on this blog post. The following is from his web site.

Mark Mecklermark.grassroots@gmail.com**State coordinators serve as liaisons between this national effort and local events and not as the organizer for each individual event. If you want to attend or volunteer for a listed event, contact the event coordinator. If you want to organize a new event, contact the state coordinator AND email teapartyinfo@gmail.com. Thanks!**

Join a state chapter of Americans For Prosperity. We are the group that hand delivered petitions by the tens of thousands to Sacramento and members of Congress asking them to oppose any tax increases.

The following is from yesterday’s AFP web site.
AFP’s Erik Telford named #2 Worst Person by Olbermann!

Thursday, April 16th 2009
by Phil Kerpen

On April 15, 2009, with Tea Parties raging all over the country and hundreds of potential high-profile conservative targets to choose from, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann named AFP’s own Erik Telford “worser” in his Worst Person In the World segment, citing his Facebook message promoting our web site www.StopSpendingOurFuture.com.

To find an AFP chapter in your area simply go to our web site: http://www.americansforprosperity.org/

We need to join ranks and send our message at the ballot box in CA on May 19th that we will vote NO on every one of the six Ballot Measures.

The following announcement is from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association:

An Urgent Message From Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
You and every other Californian are being targeted by Sacramento politicians to pay more, much more, in taxes. On top of the just approved highest state tax increase in U.S. history, the politicians want you and your family to pay an additional $1,000 or more per year.

To get your money, the politicians have placed Prop. 1A on the May 19 Special Election ballot. This giant tax increase is disguised as a “Spending Cap” and “Budget Reform.” DON’T BE FOOLED BY THIS OUTRIGHT DECEPTION!

Prop. 1A is a TAX EXTENSION of the new taxes just approved — taxes that have already made us the highest taxed state in America! If Prop. 1A passes, you’ll pay these higher taxes for up to an additional two more years. And if we let them win here, these politicians and special interests will be encouraged to make higher taxes permanent! That’s right, Prop. 1A means another full year of the record sales tax, and another two years of the record income tax, record car tax, and loss of $200 in child tax exemptions for each dependent. All this on top of the latest tax hike! The Legislative Analyst confirms that, all together, Proposition 1A will cost taxpayers another $16 billion! With the economy in shambles and unemployment over 10%, it could not be a worse time to rob every California family of another $1,000 or more. But we can fight back and win! They will have millions in special-interest money, but we have the truth and the best arguments. Still we must get the word out or many voters will be fooled by their deceitful ads and Proposition 1A could pass on May 19. To defeat the $16 billion tax increase hidden in Proposition 1A — like a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing — I am asking you to do two things. One, you must tell your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to vote no on Proposition 1A.
Tell them “Proposition 1A, No Way!”

For additional information on Measure 1-A or to support the Jarvis organization go to: www.hjta.org

As to Congress. It is not too early to vet out candidates for 2010 who support smaller government and fiscal sanity. Members of the House of Representatives are up for election every two years. Even though we are forced to live with gerrymandered districts, you can have an impact by finding good candidates to oppose incumbents in the primary elections where they are vulnerable and should be accountable for their excessive spending.
With the same enthusiasm as demonstrated on Wednesday this tax protest activity is just beginning, not ending.

One sign from the rally in Mission Viejo read: “SAVE THE TEA. THROW THE POLITICIANS IN THE BAY”  I seem to recall words from a candidate who said “yes we can.” Let me add “yes we will.”