Tea party to be held here

By Andy Steinke, Dells Events

wde-news@capitalnewspapers.com

The organizers associated with the national tea parties are hosting a summit in Wisconsin Dells next month that is expected to draw 3,000 to 5,000 people.

The Wisconsin Chapter of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation will hold the “Defending the American Dream” summit — its third annual get-together — at the Chula Vista Resort dome March 12 and 13.

Chapter Director Mark Block said some of the confirmed speakers include Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber; Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen; U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner; Lord Christopher Monckton, an advisor to former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; and Wall Street Journal columnist Stephen Moore.

Two other big-name guests, U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and Ronald Reagan’s son Michael Reagan, have also been invited.

Block said the summit will focus on the group’s two biggest issues, health care and the pending state bill on global warming, but will also discuss cap and trade, voter rights, activist training and Card Check — a proposed federal bill to eliminate secret ballots in union elections.

“We would consider (the global warming bill) economic suicide for the state,” he said. “It would double, in some cases, the price of electricity and would force manufacturers to move out of the state.”

The bill, if passed, would require 25 percent of electricity to come from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable sources by 2025. Block said the move would cost Wisconsin tens of thousands of jobs.

The group chose to hold its summit in Wisconsin Dells for two reasons.

“One, it’s a strategic location. Our organization has held most of our events in Milwaukee and Madison. Out of our 54,000 members, over half of them live in that La Crosse, Wausau, Eau Claire area to the north. And they’ve been telling us that they wanted a location they could drive to in one day,” Block said. “And two, Chula has the facilities large enough to handle the people we are expecting.”

The last summit drew 850 people, but Block said you can’t compare that summit to this one because of how much the group has grown in the last year.

“Recently, we haven’t done an event with less than 3,000 people at it,” he said. “We have close to that (number) registered already for Chula Vista…I fully anticipate selling this event out.”

The Wisconsin chapter of Americans for Prosperity formed with 250 members about three years ago, and was one of only four state chapters. Americans for Prosperity now has more than 900,000 members nationally in all 50 states and 28 state chapters.

“(It’s been) kind of a by-product of the tea party movement, where average citizens who had never been involved in the political process before now feel threatened by what the governments in Madison and D.C. are doing,” Block said.

A tea party rally on the Capitol steps drew 8,000 people on April 15, and another event on the shores of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee gathered 15,000 people on July 4, Block said.

Town hall meetings in Madison, La Crosse and Wausau to discuss health care legislation drew a combined 3,750 guests.

“People don’t, for the most part, think their elected officials are listening to them,” Block said. “And the tea party movement is a way for the average citizen to let their officials know they aren’t in favor of more taxes, spending and regulation.”

As for the summit’s theme, Defending the American Dream, Block said the American dream is the ability to prosper.

“We aren’t against government,” he said. “We are against government policies that prohibit an individual or business from prospering…We are for less taxes so people who are trying to put food on the table have more disposable income to pay their bills.”