Local conservatives finding common ground over tea

McALLEN — Marty RicKard is actually looking forward to Tax Day this year.

The 72-year-old Winter Texan is already busily preparing for McAllen's "Tea Party" on April 15 - a protest against runaway federal spending inspired by the infamous 1773 protest against British taxation.

"I'm just so distraught with what the government is doing and not doing right now and how they're veering away from constitutional authority," RicKard said. "They use the term trillion like we use pennies and nickels and dimes."

A small but growing group of fiscally conservative Rio Grande Valley residents are organizing the protest, inspired by similar "parties" across the country. Leaders said about 55 people attended their meeting last week and similar organizations have sprung up in Harlingen, Brownsville and South Padre Island.

"When I first moved down here, I wanted to set up a conservative club - I couldn't get two people to show up," marveled Glen Hagenbach, the Rio Grande Valley Tea Party Association's new president.

Asked what brought like-minded citizens out of the woodwork, he said, "I think it was about hitting a tolerance limit. A lot of conservatives, we're like the silent majority, busy living our lives and working. ... (But) finally you reach the point where you realize, enough is enough. You hit the limit."

"We see the country in real trouble and we can't sit down and be silent anymore."

Let loose to express their fears and frustrations about the economy and the new presidential administration, members began to find common ground in the battle over AIG, the insurance giant criticized for giving bonuses to executives despite accepting federal money to stay afloat.

The punitive measures proposed to tax those bonuses - and approved by the House of Representatives - were completely unconstitutional, Hagenbach said, since they imposed a retroactive tax.

A mission statement emerged organically from those discussions, he said.

"Our mission statement for the organization is to provide a forum for like-minded citizens of all walks of life in our community for the discussion, education and promotion of the ideals of the American Republic as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States," he said.

Plans for educational efforts stretching beyond the tea party have begun to form and the group has set up a Web site, www.mcallenteaparty.webs.com, along with a blog.

"We're hoping that the tea party is not the end of this - we want to go on," said Sandy Propst, who brought together the first meeting and is now the group's vice president. "This is just a wakeup call to Washington: You've got a lot of unhappy people out here."

Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4472.