Conflict Between 2 Tea Parties Continues On Tax Day

Belton – The parking lot wasn't big enough to suit Central Texas Conservatives Chairman Elwood Smith.

He ordered Belton police to confront Central Texas Tea Party activist R.S. Gates to take his clipboard and get outside the building to collect names and e-mail addresses of people who think they've been taxed enough already (T.E.A.).

Mr. Gates, an ex-police officer who still holds a state certification as such, promptly went outside, where Mr. Smith confronted him again.

He said it was illegal to organize voters and potential supporters outside the Bell County Expo Center – anywhere on the property.

When Mr. Gates told Mr. Smith he didn't think that is illegal, Mr. Smith reportedly said he would call the local gens d-armes to explain it to him.

They arrived and said he could not solicit information on the massive sidewalks that surround the expo center's dome and exhibition hall.

He would have to stand in the parking lot. He did so.

Mr. Gates did much better in his operation than did the purveyors of red T-shirts and balloons for the Central Texas Tea Party.

They were forced to set up shop across the road from the Expo Center.

The two factions are part of the same April 15 Tax Day movement now three years old and responsible for sweeping liberal Democrats from the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-term elections.

The difference is in their allegiance to the traditional values of the Republican Party.

The Central Texas Tea Party, led by former U.S. Army Colonel Wes Riddle, a West Point grad and Oxford University-trained historian, is up for change from the grass roots up, adherence to conservative concepts of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.

The Central Texas Conservatives have formed in reaction to what is perceived and has been stated by no less a luminary than Dick Armey, former Republican Congressman from Irving, as a hostile takeover of the GOP.

Their backing comes from traditional vertically integrated petroleum and energy industrial forces. As do other member organizations of the Tea Party Patriots, they favor a top-down management style.

Local officials estimated the attendance at the April 15 Tax Day rally in the hundreds.

The Expo Center has a capacity of nearly 7,000 seats.

The floggings will continue until morale improves!

- The Legendary