No one plans to dress up like Indians and dump tea into the James River, but a few Founding Fathers will be present when anti-tax protesters gather at Kanawha Plaza on April 15 to hold a "Tax Day Tea Party."
Part of a nationwide movement, Richmond organizers have recruited hundreds of volunteers to conduct skits, listen to speeches and voice protests against high taxes and big government spending.
Nationally, more than 300 such rallies are scheduled on April 15, according to the National Taxpayers Union. In Virginia, "tea party" rallies also are scheduled in Abingdon, Charlottesville, Franklin County, Lynchburg, Peninsula/Newport News, Reston, Roanoke, Virginia Beach and Winchester.
According to a Web site that is serving as a national online headquarters for the rallies, the protests are a grass-roots effort that arose from CNBC reporter Rick Santelli's Feb. 19 on-air criticism of President Barack Obama's mortgage rescue plan.
Among other things, Santelli said, "The government is promoting bad behavior," and he was thinking of organizing a "Chicago Tea Party."
The site says that on Feb. 27, "Tea Party" protests took place in more than 40 cities, leading to the expanded effort for April 15.
Sara James, the Richmond Tax Day Tea Party project leader, said "it's almost like it was meant to be. Everyone is coming together for these events."
Three issues drew the protesters together, James said. They are high taxes, pork-barrel government spending and actions taken by the Federal Reserve Bank, she said. She noted that Kanawha Plaza is in the shadow of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Tyler Whitley is a staff writer for Media General’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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