Tea party is increasing reach, not pulling back

Georgia tea party groups helped make a lot of Republican dreams come true on Election Day. They worked the phones, chanted at rallies and carried pamphlets door-to-door.

Instead of going away after the ballots have been counted, they intend to become more involved in state and local politics, even as they seek added influence in Washington. They expect political payback.

Throughout metro Atlanta, tea parties are drafting priorities for the state legislative session that begins in January. The Gwinnett County chapter, formed nine months ago, is helping create new groups in Duluth and Suwanee. The Cobb County group has a 10-point lesson plan ready for state lawmakers. And the Tea Party Patriots, the state arm of the national group, recently brought 45 tea party groups together and drafted ethics reforms that will be carried to the Gold Dome.

The tea party reforms could be controversial in the Georgia halls of power: they consist of bans on government contracts for the governor, lieutenant governor, legislators and their immediate families, plus trips paid for by lobbyists. They also would require lawmakers to report any acceptance of lobbyist spending within five days.

“If it causes a clash, it causes a clash,” Patriots representative Debbie Dooley said. “We’re standing by our principles. We are not going to give them a pass because they are Republicans.”

The conservative groups could swing the state’s already Republican-leaning politics even more to the right, said Robert Grafstein, a University of Georgia political scientist.

“It’s going to drive a lot of [lawmakers] harder than they want to go,” Grafstein said. “The question is how much will they push back.”

The tea party groups will face challenges as they move from a loosely affiliated protest movement, promoting the broad principles of less government and lower taxes, to a political player backing specific proposals and dealing with the inevitable pressure to compromise.

It is unclear whether these groups, numbering 100 statewide, can distill their message into a unified set of proposals. Some chapters are resistant to join any centralized effort, preferring to remain as individual grassroots groups.

“They say they want smaller government, but they have yet to form proposals for programs and services to cut,” state Democratic Party spokesman Eric Gray said. “That’s different than getting elected on a general idea.”

Tea party leaders, energized by the Republican gains, intend to hold officials accountable.

“They will be the keepers of the flame,” said Matt Towery, a former Republican lawmaker who runs an online media and polling firm.

Also uncertain is how much credit Georgia’s elected Republicans will give the tea party. Some politicians question whether the tea party created the Republican wave or just rode it. Tea parties refrained from making specific endorsements during the election, but some clearly had their favorites. They didn’t show an interest in promoting their own third-party candidates either. And members focused their anger at national politics, not the local scene.

“Tea Party voters voted overwhelmingly for Republicans and no doubt Nathan Deal was a beneficiary of that movement,” said Brian Robinson, the newly elected governor’s spokesman. Robinson expressed hope that the tea party will support Deal through the tough choices needed to balance the budget.

Newly elected officials acknowledge they were helped by the movement, among them Tom Graves and Austin Scott, winners of congressional seats.

"There is a debt of gratitude," said Graves, who replaced former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal in June. "Our election was largely driven by the tea party movement."

Tea partiers have made it clear they expect their candidates to tow the line. The State of Georgia Tea Party recently sent a letter to Graves chastising him for some of his votes, and warning him he could be replaced.

"There may be some disagreements," Graves said. "What I owe the tea party is to be the conservative voice they elected me to be."

When advocates of the proposed $10 tag fee for trauma funding conceded defeat on Tuesday, they cited tea party concerns.

"The tea party has stated in various reports over the past two months that they support trauma care, but no new taxes," said Dr. Dennis Ashley, Georgia trauma commission chairman. "The trauma commission will take this information back to our legislators in the next legislative session."

Attracting people displeased with government, the tea party helped organize them into a vocal front. The group’s infrastructure has shown it can help lawmakers in the days ahead or hurt them.

“If there is a bill pending, the tea party can send out all these e-mails, phone calls and Facebook messages,” said Dave McCleary, a North Fulton and Friends Tea Party leader. “That could have a big impact.”

Even as tea party leaders try to build on their success, they worry about keeping rank-and-file members engaged. One way is to assign them tasks.

The Cobb County-based Georgia Tea Party, which regularly draws 100 people to its weekly meetings, met Thursday night to select teams to lobby state officials, perform research and attend local school board meetings. Beyond lowering taxes and reducing government, the group wants tougher immigration enforcement, greater school choice and a stop to some federal health care changes in Georgia. The group is working with state Rep. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, and Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, and has access to a state Capitol “war room” to deal directly with politicians.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Tom Maloy, a retired financial writer who went from no political involvement two years ago to Cobb tea party board member. He said the party will carry more clout in state government, adding, “We’re going to be lobbying harder this year than last year.”

Gwinnett Tea Party members have opposed a new trash plan that requires residents to use the service and joined in the push to oust indicted county commissioner Kevin Kenerly.

Tea party leaders have yet another motivator: the 2012 presidential election.