March on Annapolis

Guest Bloggers on January 18, 2010 no comments

Submitted By Tim B

I was able to make the Tea Party event this past Wednesday night in Annapolis and I thought it was well attended and quite good. Unfortunately, some of the speakers could not be heard over those in the audience…even in spite of having a sound system to use.

Of course, even though it was estimated that over 2,000 people attended, and the photos in the message I received and uploaded reflect this, apparently the local news programs gave the event the required report of being insignificant. Like for instance, channel 45, Baltimore, said the event was attended by hundreds, gave about 1 minute of air time and did not include any sound bites from the speakers. Oh well. Typical biased media.

However, I’m sure O’Malley, if he was man enough to stay home that night, knew there was more than just hundreds who attended the event and just what the speakers had to say.

Below is a message I received from the Campaign for Liberty that gives a brief summary of the event.

Sent: Friday, January 15, 2010 12:48 PM

Subject: Maryland Campaign for Liberty: Thousands Attend Tea Party Rally in Annapolis

Thousands Attend Tea Party Rally In Annapolis

Dave Pridgeon, Chapter Coordinator, Harford County Campaign for Liberty

On Wednesday night, January 13, 2010 approximately 2,600 Marylanders braved freezing temperatures to attend a Tea Party at this year’s opening session of the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis. Maryland residents are still reeling from the largest tax increase in the state’s history in 2007, which included raising the state sales tax to $.06 on the dollar. Many Maryland businesses have recently been hit with a 300% increase in their state unemployment tax rate. Despite this and numerous other recent tax increases the state still faces a projected 2 billion dollar shortfall this year. Marylanders have had enough and assembled Wednesday night to say “no” to runaway spending and irresponsible state government.

This event was sponsored by a broad based coalition of activist groups from around the state including the Americans for Prosperity, Maryland Taxpayers Association, and a host of local Tea Party Organizations. Maryland Campaign for Liberty was a proud co-sponsor of this event.

Scores of Campaign for Liberty members from chapters around the state attended to participate and spread the liberty message. In the photo above the C4L literature tent can be seen in the bottom right hand corner. The street at the bottom of the picture is where buses from 12 locations throughout Maryland arrived. As citizens stepped from the buses they were greeted by C4L members with literature.

Speakers at the rally included two Campaign for Liberty members from Harford County. One spoke about Harford’s Tea Party movement success last year in reducing the County budget, lowering the property tax rate, and lowering the property tax increase cap. The other spoke about congressional redistricting, and gerrymandering, which the party in power in Maryland has used to debase the vote of its citizens.

Organizers hope that Wednesday night’s successful rally is just the first of several Tea Parties which will be held in Annapolis during the current legislative session.