Local Tea Partiers Call For Freedom From Debt

Gordon Yaghjian's reason for attending Saturday's Tea Party rally wasn't hard to figure out.

The Bradenton resident and Vietnam veteran carried a neon yellow sign affixed to a 10-foot pole that spelled out exactly what TEA stands for: "Taxed Enough Already."

"The more money you lose, the more freedom you lose," said Yaghjian. "You don't have the choices anymore. You're not as free as you were."

Freedom was a central theme at Saturday's Tax Day Rally, sponsored by Tea Party Manatee and hosted by . The event drew a crowd of more than 100 as well as some big names in local and state politics, including Manatee County School Board member Julie Aranibar, District 4 County Commissioner Robin DiSabatino, former State Rep. Bill Galvano and keynote speaker Jeff Atwater, the state's chief financial officer.

Speakers hammered President Barack Obama for what they said was a failure to create jobs and railed against the nation's runaway debt, which they see as a trampling of individual liberties.

"Fiscal responsibility is just as much a part of freedom as anything else I know," said Galvano, a Bradenton Republican who is seeking Mike Bennett's Florida Senate seat in 2012.

Atwater said the rising debt has ramifications beyond just what America owes to other nations.

"This is a matter of not just an interest rate rising or a debt ceiling pushed further up," Atwater said. "It is in fact the falling of America's moral, political and economic strength on this planet. That is real. That's why we gather this evening."

Atwater pointed to the words of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, who warned against debt in their day and were once labeled as "extremists" — just as Tea Party members have been today, Atwater said.

Several speakers threw their support behind beleaguered Gov. Rick Scott, crediting Tea Party voters with helping Scott get elected last November in an effort to fix Florida's financial woes.

"If he wasn't doing something right, they wouldn't be trying to recall him," said conservative radio host Eddie Adams Jr.

The Tea Party, once criticized as a fringe movement, was hailed Friday as a deciding factor in elections past and future. Aranibar said she owed the crowd "a huge thank you and a debt I cannot repay" for helping her win a contentious school board election in 2010.

Steve Vernon, Vice President of Tea Party Manatee, said it's time for the movement to be taken seriously.

"One year ago, we met here at our last Tax Day rally," Vernon said. "Since then, we've been mocked, we've been criticized, we've been ridiculed and we've been defamed by the media and politicians. And I'm tired of it."

Others said Tea Partiers are making their presence felt, especially at the local level.

"We've got people going to school board meetings, we've got people going to the (county) commissioners' meetings, we've got people going to Tallahassee," said event hostess and Mixon Fruit Farms co-owner Janet Mixon. "We're learning what's happening, and we do make a difference."