Revolt within Virginia Tea Party Federation

Oops. There is open revolt within the tea party ranks in the Commonwealth.

The Virginia Tea Party Federation that includes the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party, along with a tea party PAC, got together last week and decided to vet the nine Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. Their final choices were Prince William County Supervisor Chairman Corey Stewart and State Senator Mark Obenshain.

That didn't set well with some members of the tea party. Today there was open revolt in the blogosphere from Greg Letiecq, Chris Beer, Tito Munoz, Joshua Huffman, and Willie Deutsch. Apparently there are candidates they consider not "tea-party" enough.

A state of confusion now seems to have settled over the Commonwealth. Chris Beer at Mason Conservative wrote:

I don't know who's what anymore.  Who's a RINO, who's establishment, who loves liberty, who's a real conservative?  It's getting so confusing!

The Tea Party Federation of Virginia endorsed Corey Stewart today, and apparently it's to the bewilderment of the Tea Party.  First off, allow me to say that the fact there is a large "federation" of Tea Party seems counter to what the Tea Party of 2009-10 stood for.  Anyways, apparently the Federation's choice is not the choice of the local (ie real) tea parties. [emphasis added]

It didn't take long after the Virginia Tea Party Federation's endorsements for this open revolt to hit. Now the federation side is pushing back: "The sore losers are on the emotional politics rampage. There was nothing 'rigged' about the process."

The Republican Convention is just a few weeks away. Stay tuned ... this could get interesting.

Cross-posted at Va Political Pineapple

Greg Letiecq & the recording studio at RPV Convention

Greg Letiecq (right) works the controls at recording studio.

Shaun Kenney interviews Ken Cuccinelli.

The New Media setup for the 2009 Republican Party of Virginia Convention over the weekend included a recording studio, manned by Greg Letiecq from Black Velvet Bruce Li blog, that provided a raised platform overlooking the convention floor for interviews with candidates, bloggers, and others.

Greg has written about it, complete with photos, over at Black Velvet Bruce Li in his post, "RPV embraces new media:"

The convention of the Republican Party of Virginia was an awesome event, although I had little time to take much of it in. The RPV New Media Committee through sponsorship from the House Republican Caucus engaged me in streaming the convention live on ustream as well as running a mini-studio on the floor of the convention. Bloggers used that studio to interview a wide variety of Republican elected officials and candidates with the convention floor and stage as a backdrop, which allowed for some pretty awesome video footage. It kept me awfully busy, so I missed a lot of what was happening, but the results of the effort are tremendous.

Read his post to see how the set up was utilized to enhance the Republican message, promote candidates, interview electeds, and provide yet another tool for bloggers in the ever-widening field of New Media.

Our thanks to Greg who did a fantastic job. The bar has been set very high....

Photos by SWAC Girl
Lynn Mitchell
May 29-30, 2009

Dave Mastio & Black Velvet Bruce Li in Washington Post article

A Washington Post article that was reprinted in the Richmond Times-Dispatch quoted Dave Mastio of BlogNetNews talking about the most influential blogs in the Virginia blogosphere.

Dave, who keeps track of over 200 political blogs in Virginia, cited Black Velvet Bruce Li as the most influential conservative blog in Northern Virginia, and said it's a sign of success when blogs are mimicked by others:

"In the blogosphere, attention is the coin of the realm. Blogs survive on controversy ..."

Greg Letiecq, aka Black Velvet Bruce Li, has seen a copycat blog sprout up to mock his strong stand against illegal immigration. He is not deterred. Read the entire article.

Save the Old Dominion featured in Waynesboro News Virginian

Save the Old Dominion, the group organized by blogger Black Velvet Bruce Li's Greg Letiecq, was featured on the front page of the Waynesboro News Virginian Thursday as well as coverage on Richmond's TV-6 newscast at noon on Wednesday.

The newspaper story started out:

Forces opposed to illegal immigration are laying plans to increase the heat on Virginia lawmakers who shot down a raft of immigration-related bills last session.

Part of the 2008 push will be driven by a coalition of seven primarily northern Virginia groups that previously limited their activism to their own back yards.

Greg Letiecq, president of Help Save Manassas and an organizer of Save the Old Dominion, said the coalition is intent on improving the 2007 session, which he said only saw one of 50 immigration bills emerge from the General Assembly.

“We have good coverage of several localities in northern Virginia and down in Hampton Roads. But someone concerned about this issue in Henry County, where do they turn?” he asked.

Coalition members include: Help Save Loudoun, Vienna Citizens Group, Help Save Hampton Roads, Centreville Citizens Coalition, Help Protect Culpeper, Save Stafford and Letiecq’s Manassas group.

Greg's group has received much positive press as they get the word out and grow as more groups join them.

Help Save Manassas responds to lawsuit filed by PRLDEF

Manassas, VA--Help Save Manassas, a grassroots advocacy organization of over 1,800 members dedicated to reducing the number of illegal aliens in Prince William County, The City of Manassas, and The City of Manassas Park will hold a press conference in front of the McCoart Building at 1 County Complex Court, Prince William, Virginia, 22912 at 3:00 PM on Thursday, October 11th to respond to the lawsuit filed Wednesday by PRLDEF on the behalf of the Woodbridge Worker's Committee and sixteen other plaintiffs.

Help Save Manassas will provide background information on the Woodbridge Worker's Committee and their parent organization "Mexicans Without Borders", the legal issues involved in the lawsuit, and discuss the efforts Help Save Manassas will undertake to ensure that the voice of the citizens of Prince William County will not be silenced by the irresponsible and baseless litigation initiated by this organization that has ties to radical foreign revolutionary organizations which have engaged in terrorism in the past.

All members of the press and the public are invited.

Contact: Greg Letiecq, president@helpsavemanassas.org, (703) 929-6751