Tom Graves Only State Level Elected Republican Chosen To Address National Tea Party

This morning, conservative activists gathered for a rally and send off for Georgians who will be traveling to Washington D.C. for a National Tea Party scheduled this Saturday, September 12th. The rally was both the start of the protest, as well as a celebration for the conservatives willing to take a stand against out of control spending at the Federal level.

Readers of Peach Pundit have had a front row seat to the incubation of the Tea Party movement. What began as a series of spontaneous protests began to morph into a more organized movement that began to take on the image of the Republican “establishment” as it grew in size and intensity. The inclusion of many elected officials, some whose commitment to true conservative principals were openly questioned by groups who were part of the early Tea Party movement, seemed to be one of the largest points of consternation as this patchwork of conservative organizations began to assemble.

As this march on Washington was conceived and planned, organizers were careful to focus on the grass roots, and were careful to select only a few elected officials. A review of the speakers list reveals representatives of many “conservative” organizations, running the gambit from somewhat mainstream to fringe, and not all are proud “Republicans”. The list includes just six elected officials, and two are from Georgia: Congressional Republican Study Committee Chair Tom Price, and State House Member and Candidate for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District Tom Graves.

When I received a press release from the Graves camp regarding this honor a couple of days ago, I assumed that Tom’s Georgia connections secured him a place on the podium. I emailed Debbie Dooley, who is familiar to most who read us regularly. Debbie holds dual titles as Southeast Regional Coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, and is Georgia Grassroots Coordinator for FreedomWorks. I fully expected to be able to get a nice quote from Debbie about why she included Tom in the speakers’ lineup. Turns out, she didn’t choose the speakers nor add Tom’s name to the mix, and wasn’t sure who did. What I received was a chain of emails extending upward within the organization ending with Brendan Steinhauser, Director of State and National Campaigns for FreedomWorks.

Brendan is in charge of this weekend’s event in D.C., and Debbie credits him with the idea of holding the march. He graciously took the time to give me his perspective on why Tom was chosen as one State level Republican elected official to speak at the Rally. (There is also a conservative Democrat from Vermont. Before you claim there are no conservative Democrats, please remember that the liberals there are honest and go by the term “socialist”.)

Brendan has known Tom for about 2 years, and said he chose him to speak because “Tom believes deeply in what we believe in”. He was in the first group of recipients of FreedomWorks’ Foundation Legislative Entrepreneur award, alongside other conservatives such as Jim Demint, Tom Colburn and Marco Rubio. He described Graves as a “natural choice” to speak as a true conservative, and when they narrowed down the names of those to be invited, his “jumped right out”, but that they also had to turn down “good, true conservatives” as well.

I asked how a State Rep from North Georgia gets the attention of a national conservative activist group. He walked me through the relationship Tom Graves has had with the FreedomWorks Foundation, including his time spent with the 216 Policy Group, the stands against his own leadership when he felt his constituents and conservative principles were not being properly served, and his willingness to lose both his committee status and office location based on principle.

Equally important was his early assistance to the Tea Party movement as it began to incubate with the grass roots last January. Tom didn’t wait for the Tea Party to get popular to get involved. He helped make sure it got popular.

I told Mr. Steinhauser that one of Tom’s opponents had claimed Tom was a “John Kerry Republican”, and got an incredulous laugh before he said “That’s not the Tom we know, and we know Tom pretty well.”

For all of this and more, he will be addressing the tens of thousands expected in D.C. on the 12th.

The FreedomWorks rally will begin at 9:00am on Freedom Plaza with some remarks from Grassroots activists, including Debbie Dooley. They will then march to the Capitol where most of speeches, including those by Tom Graves and Tom Price, will occur between 1 and 4 pm.

Tom Price will be familiar with the surroundings. Tom Graves should be soon, as well.