Tea partiers not as noisy, but still hope to be heard

Mar. 4, 2012, Newark Advocate

By Jessica Alaimo

CentralOhio.com

In 2012, they’ve spent less time chanting “don’t tread on me,” less time painting the words “socialism” and “communism” on signs adorned with Barack Obama’s face, and less time organizing bus trips to Washington.

Some political observers say the tea party is fading into the background, but its members say the movement merely has grown up.

“We’ve changed because we’ve become more sophisticated, more educated,” said Tom Zawistowski, president of the Ohio Liberty Council, a coalition of tea party groups across the state. “We’ve spent two years going to school about how our democracy really works.

“People are confused because they don’t see us standing outside with signs yelling and shouting.”

The main reason for laying down the protest signs, said Chris Littleton, former president of the Ohio Liberty Council, was that the members didn’t think they were having much influence.

“We were naive to think that they (incumbent politicians) cared about our voices,” Littleton said. “They didn’t care about our voices, they cared about how it (the movement) would affect their election.”

So, Littleton said, tea party members stopped protesting, and started campaigning.