South Florida Tea Party Chairman takes heat for views GOP Medicare plan

By George Bennett

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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Nevada Tea Party chairman quits, announces support for Sharron Angle

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? The chairman of the Tea Party of Nevada resigned Tuesday after a recording was made public capturing Republican Sharron Angle badmouthing GOP leaders during a meeting with the shadowy group?s U.S. Senate candidate.

The exit of chairman Syd James is another blow to the candidacy of Tea Party of Nevada nominee Scott Ashjian, who has been denounced by state tea party leaders who say he has no connection to the movement that advocates limited government and tightfisted public spending.

In a statement, James said he was endorsing Angle, whose uneasy relations with national Republicans were laid bare in the tape, which Ashjian recorded secretly and later released to the Las Vegas Sun newspaper.

James said he arranged the meeting to see if Ashjian would consider withdrawing from the race and backing Angle, who is trying to oust Majority Leader Harry Reid.

?I gave the Angle campaign my word that this was to be a private meeting and not tape recorded. I feel my personal integrity and honor was violated when Scott taped what was to be a private conversation and then made it public,? James said in a statement.

?I can understand why the Angle campaign feels that they were double-crossed. The Angle campaign trusted me and that trust was violated,? James added.

Angle has the support of national and local tea party groups, but Ashjian?s candidacy threatened to drain votes away from her, which would help Reid in a close race. There are several minor-party candidates on the ballot ? a recent poll showed Ashjian with just 1 percent support ? and Nevada voters can also choose ?none of these candidates.?

In the recording Angle tells Ashjian, ?I?m not sure you can win and I?m not sure I can win if you?re hurting my chance, and that?s the part that scares me.? She laments that the GOP leaders have ?lost their standards, they?ve lost their principles.? She refers derisively to ?that good old boy thing? and depicts herself as an underdog David fighting Goliath ? the constricting machinery of the national party.

On the tape Ashjian complains his reputation has been unjustly damaged in the campaign. He grumbles about the Tea Party Express, a national political committee that ran ads earlier this year questioning his credentials and supporting Angle. He declines to support her.

It?s unclear who will succeed James as the leader of the obscure party that has done little fundraising or organizing so far and has been blasted by Republicans as a Democratic plant.

The recording surfaced at an awkward time for Angle ? the political arm of the Senate GOP is holding a fundraiser for her this week in Washington. A spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee could not immediately be reached for comment.

Kirsten Chadwick, a Republican lobbyist and former White House aide under President George W. Bush who is helping the GOP elect women candidates, was unmoved when told of the recording flap.

?I honestly hadn?t heard of it,? she said.

Las Vegas tea party volunteer Joyce Burnett said the meeting with Ashjian ?might not have been the smartest move.?

?If I were sitting across the table from her, I might say, ?Boy, what were you thinking with that??? said Burnett, who hosted a house party for Angle in August.

But Burnett said Angle?s attempted dealmaking had not dampened her support.

?There is always going to be a certain give and take,? Burnett said. ?That?s how the political system works.?

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