Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Local 'Tea Party' group plans rally at Heritage Landing on income tax day


By Local reports | The Muskegon Chronicle

April 14, 2010, 1:04AM

MUSKEGON — The Muskegon Patriots, a local group that is part of the national “Tea Party” movement, is holding a rally at Heritage Landing on Thursday.

The rally is deliberately timed for the federal government’s income tax due date, as the group plans to protest the amount of money being spent by the government, especially on the national health care overhaul.

Chris Kaijala, a member of the group, said that is only one of the issues being protested Thursday.

“We’re upset because elected officials are doing things we don’t consider to be in their purview, things that they don’t have the constitutional powers to do,” he said.

The event will begin at noon with public speakers and culminate with a tea chest being thrown into Muskegon Lake at 12:45 p.m.

Kaijala said he is worried about protesters making a scene in an attempt to discredit the movement. Some online posts he’s read instructed “crashers” to bring signs with offensive messages in an attempt to stain the movement’s reputation, he said.

“We’ll be bringing a video camera and pointing these people out,” he said. “We don’t want anything to do with them.”

The Muskegon Patriots was founded after the American Tea Party Movement held a rally in Muskegon last year. The group stands for fiscal conservatism, limited government and free market policies. FULL STORY

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