Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:50?p.m.?Wednesday,?June?22,?2011
Posted: 8:04?a.m.?Wednesday,?June?22,?2011
When South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson slammed a GOP Medicare overhaul plan as a "public policy nightmare," Democrats gleefully circulated his remarks while many Florida tea party activists shook their heads at Wilkinson's latest clash with others in the fiscally conservative movement.
A key Palm Beach County tea party organizer resigned from Wilkinson's group in protest Monday, but Wilkinson picked up a vote of confidence from Donald Trump, who has called the Medicare proposal a political disaster for Republicans.
"I have great respect for Everett," Trump said through a spokeswoman Tuesday. Trump and Wilkinson have kept in touch since Trump headlined a South Florida Tea Party rally in April while he was considering a Republican presidential bid.
Wilkinson sent a "Dear Patriots" message to his group's 20,000 email recipients last week calling House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's spending blueprint and its controversial Medicare component "a political trap and public policy nightmare, and the Republicans are locking arms jumping off the cliff for it!"
The Ryan plan would change Medicare for those now under 55 from a defined benefit to a program where the government subsidizes the purchase of private insurance. It got favorable votes in Congress from such tea party stars as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, and House Tea Party Caucus founder and presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.
It's also popular with rank-and-file activists .
"Most people in the tea party movement support the Ryan plan. That's a very easy statement," said Tom Gaitens, who keeps in contact with tea party groups around Florida as an organizer with Washington-based FreedomWorks.
"I am not sure of Wilkinson's motive here and exactly whom he is speaking for. Certainly not representative of the folks in my tea party," said Ron McCoy of the West Orlando Tea Party.
Pam Wohlschlegel, the South Florida Tea Party's Palm Beach County director, resigned Monday, saying she doesn't think Wilkinson's position represents the views of the group's membership.
"It's a decentralized movement. Everybody's got their own opinion," says Wilkinson, a 32-year-old financial planner who lives in Palm Beach Gardens. He says the Ryan plan "should be open for discussion" among tea partyers.
It's not the first time Wilkinson has been at odds with others in the movement.
During the Republican gubernatorial primary last summer, Wilkinson heckled candidate Rick Scott at an event organized by a rival group called Tea Party In Action. Wilkinson was supporting Scott rival Bill McCollum .
This year, Wilkinson broke with many in the movement by opposing a bill to require businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to check employees' citizenship status.
Wilkinson also isn't included in regular conference calls with many other Florida tea party leaders, a fact Gaitens attributes to "personality differences." A group called Tea Party Fort Lauderdale specifies on its home page that it is "not an arm of, or in any way affiliated with 'South Florida Tea Party,' 'Florida Tea Party,' or Everett Wilkinson."
Wilkinson shrugs off his differences with other groups.
"When you grow and you're as large as our (group), you're bound to step on some toes," he said. "We have our influence. It doesn't make any sense for us to look outside of our area. I have a lot of respect for the leaders across the state, and every tea party leader differs."
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