Republicans have seen another black helicopter and discovered a conspiracy theory involving the teabaggers led by anti-union activtist and Republican House staffer Chet Zarko.
He’s making the claim, and most of Michigan’s rightwing blogs have picked up on it, that “Progressive Campaigns Inc. (PCI) has been hired to collect signatures to put on the ballot a "Tea Party" party.” He further claims that this alleged petition drive is funded by the Michigan Democratic Party, and then he lets out the big GOP boogieman, George Soros. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Soros should be a poster boy for what Republicans claim are their ideals; a man who pulled himself up by his bootstraps, but that is just another GOP talking point.
How does Mr. Zarko know about this alleged petition drive? Because he checked with his co-conspirator Wendy Day - who Zarko teamed up with to attack Howell’s teachers in May of 2007 - and the Howell school board member and head teabagger claims she knows nothing about the petition. Zarko claims Day “condemned this effort and stated it was an effort to dilute the impact of the current Tea Party - she argued this was evidence that forces opposing reform were taking the Tea Party seriously - so seriously that indeed they are trying to steal its trademark and hijack it.”
It’s trademark? Not only that proof, but Zarko” verified through technical means.”
Even if everything Zarko has written about this latest fairy tale is true, so what?
The hurdle for a minor political party, like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party, to get on the ballot here in Michigan is very high. They must first file as a new political party even if they have been around for many years. The party must collect petition signatures equal to 1 percent of the votes cast for the governor. That comes out to 38,013 signatures. If they are paying $1 per signature, as Zarko claims, that’s a lot of cash to be paying for no effect during the start of the campaign season.
Even if by some strange twist this alleged petition drive actually occurred, where are the candidates? Recruiting good Democratic candidates to run for office here in predominantly Republican Livingston County is tough because the odds are against them. How hard would it be to recruit a teabagger candidate with even higher odds?
To get on the ballot, the minor party must have ballot status in Michigan. Then, any candidate must receive nomination to the office they want to run for at the party’s nominating convention that must be held no later than August 3, 2010 to be on the November ballot. Does Zarko and the rightwing think that could really happen?
The right thing to do would be to form a third party, but the simple fact is that the teabagger "movement" is just the radical wing of the Republican Party that’s all ready so far right it’s almost off the tracks.
Teabaggers will never, ever be a third party no matter who pushes it. Even if Zarko’s fairy tale were true, would it be any worse than Republicans collecting signatures to put Green Party Presidential Ralph Nader on the ballot in 2000 and help George Bush become President?
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