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Tea Party Express
The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candidates running for state and federal offices. It was founded as a project of the political action committee Our Country Deserves Better PAC by Republican party members Howard Kaloogian and Sal Russo.
The Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo Marsh and Rogers founded the Tea Party Express through its political action committee Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) in the summer of 2009. Russo Marsh and Rogers is a campaign consultancy specializing in promoting conservative candidates and causes. Sal Russo of Russo Marsh and Rogers serves as the chief strategist for Tea Party Express. Russo worked on a range of establishment Republican campaigns going back three decades. He was an aide to Ronald Reagan when Reagan was governor of California. Russo has also worked for Orrin Hatch, Jack Kemp, and George Pataki. Tea Party Express co-founder Howard Kaloogian is a former California state lawmaker and onetime congressional candidate whose campaign was marred with controversy when a picture posted on his website of a quiet-looking street scene as "proof" that the situation in Iraq was far safer than the media was reporting was revealed in the media to have actually been taken in Turkey. Kaloogian was also a force behind the successful 2003 campaign to recall California Gov. Gray Davis.
Conservative radio host Mark Williams served as the spokesperson for the Tea Party Express until he resigned amid controversy over a racially charged letter posted on his blog and comments made to the media.
Russo Marsh and Rogers has been a financial beneficiary of Tea Party Express' success. According to Federal Election Commission filings, more than 75% of the money spent by the PAC, about $1 million out of $1.3 million spent, went to Russo, Marsh or King Media Group, which has close ties to Russo. Kaloogian and Russo also founded the conservative group Move America Forward.
As with the larger Tea Party movement, the Tea Party Express is actively opposed to several federal laws, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and a series of health care reform bills, and promotes conservative ideals and candidates.
The Tea Party Express' nominal activity is organizing cross-country bus convoys of Tea Party activists. The first, in September 2009, stopped in 33 cities and ended with a rally in Washington, DC. Its goal was to rally Americans "to oppose the out-of-control spending, higher taxes, bailouts, and growth in the size and power of government". The focus was opposition to government-run health care. A second tour began October 25, 2009 and stopped in 38 cities, ending November 11, 2009. It highlighted "some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses." Several tours for 2010 have been organized. In addition to organizing national bus tours of Tea Party activists, Tea Party Express leadership has endorsed conservative candidates running for state and federal offices such as Christine O'Donnell, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio and Sharron Angle.
In March 2012, the Tea Party Express and Americans for Prosperity organized a rally at the Capitol during the Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Tea Party Express began developing a reputation for aggressive action in January 2010, spending nearly $350,000 to back Republican Scott Brown's bid for Senate, helping him win an upset victory in Massachusetts. Scott Brown garnered support from the tea party by making defeat of President Obama's healthcare plan a signature issue.
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Tea Party Express
The Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candidates running for state and federal offices. It was founded as a project of the political action committee Our Country Deserves Better PAC by Republican party members Howard Kaloogian and Sal Russo.
The Sacramento-based GOP political consulting firm Russo Marsh and Rogers founded the Tea Party Express through its political action committee Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB) in the summer of 2009. Russo Marsh and Rogers is a campaign consultancy specializing in promoting conservative candidates and causes. Sal Russo of Russo Marsh and Rogers serves as the chief strategist for Tea Party Express. Russo worked on a range of establishment Republican campaigns going back three decades. He was an aide to Ronald Reagan when Reagan was governor of California. Russo has also worked for Orrin Hatch, Jack Kemp, and George Pataki. Tea Party Express co-founder Howard Kaloogian is a former California state lawmaker and onetime congressional candidate whose campaign was marred with controversy when a picture posted on his website of a quiet-looking street scene as "proof" that the situation in Iraq was far safer than the media was reporting was revealed in the media to have actually been taken in Turkey. Kaloogian was also a force behind the successful 2003 campaign to recall California Gov. Gray Davis.
Conservative radio host Mark Williams served as the spokesperson for the Tea Party Express until he resigned amid controversy over a racially charged letter posted on his blog and comments made to the media.
Russo Marsh and Rogers has been a financial beneficiary of Tea Party Express' success. According to Federal Election Commission filings, more than 75% of the money spent by the PAC, about $1 million out of $1.3 million spent, went to Russo, Marsh or King Media Group, which has close ties to Russo. Kaloogian and Russo also founded the conservative group Move America Forward.
As with the larger Tea Party movement, the Tea Party Express is actively opposed to several federal laws, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and a series of health care reform bills, and promotes conservative ideals and candidates.
The Tea Party Express' nominal activity is organizing cross-country bus convoys of Tea Party activists. The first, in September 2009, stopped in 33 cities and ended with a rally in Washington, DC. Its goal was to rally Americans "to oppose the out-of-control spending, higher taxes, bailouts, and growth in the size and power of government". The focus was opposition to government-run health care. A second tour began October 25, 2009 and stopped in 38 cities, ending November 11, 2009. It highlighted "some of the worst offenders in Congress who have voted for higher spending, higher taxes, and government intervention in the lives of American families and businesses." Several tours for 2010 have been organized. In addition to organizing national bus tours of Tea Party activists, Tea Party Express leadership has endorsed conservative candidates running for state and federal offices such as Christine O'Donnell, Joe Miller, Marco Rubio and Sharron Angle.
In March 2012, the Tea Party Express and Americans for Prosperity organized a rally at the Capitol during the Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The Tea Party Express began developing a reputation for aggressive action in January 2010, spending nearly $350,000 to back Republican Scott Brown's bid for Senate, helping him win an upset victory in Massachusetts. Scott Brown garnered support from the tea party by making defeat of President Obama's healthcare plan a signature issue.