Portage County Tea Party and TP PAC Have Major Impact on Primary

Release:

Kent, Ohio -  The Portage County TEA Party and Portage County TEA Party PAC had a major impact on the issues and primary races for this Tuesday’s Primary Elections. The Portage County TEA Party supported the Kent City .73-mill five year renewal levy for the West Side Fire Station, as well as the Aurora City .9-mill five year renewal levy for road and bridge construction and repair, and the Edinburg 1.3-mill five year renewal levy for current expenses all of which passed.  The Portage County TEA Party opposed the passage of the Waterloo School District five year 4.76-mill additional emergency levy and the Rootstown School District five year 4.96-mill additional emergency levy and neither of them passed.

In the Streetsboro’s non-partisan primary for Mayor, where two of the three candidates will move on to the November election, the Portage County TEA Party PAC endorsed Brett McClafferty who finished second and will now run against Glenn Broska in November.  In the Ravenna City Council races, again where two of the three candidates will move on to the November election, in Ward 3 the Portage County TEA Party PAC endorses Kevin Tichnell who won his three way race, while in the Ward 4 it endorsed Donna Swigart who finished second and will also be on the ballot in November. 

Tom Zawistowski, Executive Director of the Portage County TEA Party commented on the election results by saying “We want to thank those citizens who turned out in horrible weather conditions to do their constitutional duty and participate in the election process Tuesday.  We are obviously pleased that every issue we supported or opposed went the way we wanted and every candidate we supported did well enough to move on to November.  A 100% success rate is something to be proud of and shows that our members in the townships are doing the hard work to understand the local issues and meet the candidates to make solid recommendation to our fellow citizens.”

Zawistowski went on to say “We were very pleased that Kevin Tichnell won his race and Donna Swigart made a good showing. We will be inviting both McClafferty and Broska to address our group before November to further vet those candidates. We have lots of work to do with our local school districts to better understand there issues and come up with a plan to address them.  We want good schools and good teachers and are willing to support our schools as long as we feel we are getting a fair return on our tax dollars.” By law, the Portage County TEA Party PAC, which is a state PAC, can endorse candidates, while the Portage County TEA Party, which is a 501(c)4 non-profit organization can take positions on issues.  

The TEA Party is not a political party but a political movement.  It is loosely based on the Boston Tea Party of 1773 in which American Colonists rebelled against the “Taxation Without Representation” of the King of England and the English Parliament by dumping tea into Boston Harbor.  The initials TEA are today used to show that many current American citizens feel that they are “Taxed Enough Already” by the U.S. Government as well as state and local governments. The movement is attempting to educate and motivate common American citizens to take a more active role in their own self governance at the local, state and federal level.