Tea-party supporters rally in Richmond

Waving colorful signs and enjoying hot rhetoric, thousands of tea-party supporters crowded into Richmond's Kanawha Plaza yesterday evening to show their contempt for President Barack Obama and big government.

Among those at the rally was former state Republican Party Chairman Patrick M. McSweeney. Now president of an organization called Restore the Founders' Vision, he said big government slowly is eroding the American dream and making this nation "a European-style state."

Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has filed high-profile lawsuits against the federal government and whose name drew cheers when introduced at the rally, was, however, not asked to speak.

"They don't let elected officials speak," McSweeney explained.

Cuccinelli was the only politician in evidence in the crowd that organizers estimated at more than 3,000.

Organizers said the turnout on the clear, warm spring evening may have been held down by the debut of the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team at The Diamond and by several smaller tea-party rallies held last weekend.

McSweeney praised Cuccinelli for filing suit against mandated health insurance contained in Obama's recently passed health-care legislation. Filing suit "had nothing to do with race; it had to do with fulfilling the Founders' vision," the Richmond lawyer said.

Some commentators think tea-party members oppose Obama because he is black.

Last night's good-natured crowd appeared more frustrated than angry. Participants held up strongly worded signs but joked among themselves and politely answered questions posed by representatives of the mainstream news media, whom many tea-party supporters regard as the enemy.

"CNN says there are six of us," read one sign.

Other signs were just as colorful:

•"Stop stealing our money."

•"Tea today. Tar tomorrow."

•"Carter isn't the worst president anymore."

•"Free markets, not freeloaders."

•"Some criminals are caught; the rest are in Congress."

Police had blocked most of the streets around Kanawha Plaza, renamed "Freedom Plaza" for the event. The downtown plaza, which can hold about 5,500 people, appeared to be about two-thirds full.

The Richmond rally was one of many held across the nation yesterday to mark the deadline for filing federal income taxes, known as Tax Day.

The rally was financed with money raised at a cocktail party Wednesday at the Richmond Marriott Hotel. About 350 people attended. The event raised more than enough money to pay for the rally, said spokesman Chuck Hansen, who declined to reveal the amount.

The featured speaker at the Wednesday party was Charles Payne, an analyst for the Fox Business Network.

The tea partiers yesterday were operating under a newly drawn "code of conduct" urging them to refrain from slurs, insults and violent behavior and to engage in "peaceful public discourse" with those who disagree with them.

The penalty for violating the code is disqualification from membership in the Richmond Tea Party.

"It is something we began talking about and working on a few weeks ago," Hansen said.

"In light of the unsavory activities planned by people who don't like the tea party, it made sense to be sure we got this out there, both for the benefit of our supporters and to differentiate between us and the unfortunate activities of the people who would like to damage our reputation in the eyes of the public," he added.

A new organization, Crash the Tea Party, has been formed to infiltrate tea-party events and embarrass the group by trying to make its members appear to be racist, homophobic and moronic, one of its organizers told The Associated Press this week.

At some tea-party events, demonstrators have hurled racial slurs and waved insulting signs at Democratic lawmakers.

There were no apparent incidents yesterday, and there was no sign of a counterdemonstration near the rally.

Hansen said the fact that tea-party members are undergoing more scrutiny is a sign that the movement is threatening the major political parties.

Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or twhitley@timesdispatch.com.