Tea Parties Planned To Protest Government Spending

Organizers Call For More Accountability Over Taxes

CONCORD, N.H. -- Several tea parties are planned across the state on Wednesday to protest what organizers call wasteful government spending.

Organizers said the rallies are targeting federal and local leaders in an attempt to call attention to how taxpayer money is being spent.

Two of the biggest rallies are planned for Concord at noon and Manchester in the early evening.

"The message is lower taxes, more fiscal responsibility, more accountability at the state local and federal level," said Corey Lewandowski, state director for Americans for Prosperity.

Lewandowski said the tea parties are meant to reference protests made by colonists under British rule.

"I think it's very reminiscent of what we're facing now, which is a tax on the gas tax, potential sales tax, potential death tax, cigarette tax," he said. "The taxes never end."

Matthew Murphy of the group New Hampshire Advantage Coalition said he expects more than 700 people to attend the rally at Manchester's Victory Park.

"We're hoping that this sends a message loud and clear to elected officials at both the federal and state level that the people are tired of the over-taxation caused by overspending," Murphy said.

Many of the groups affiliated with the tea parties have ties to the Republican Party, but organizers insisted that the message is universal.

"We need to live within our means," Lewandowski said. "We need to control our spending, and we need to make tough fiscal decisions."

The New Hampshire Democratic Party did not have a comment on the rallies.

Tea parties are also scheduled for Dover, Keene, Plymouth and Portsmouth. Times and locations can be found on this site.

http://www.wmur.com/money/19179436/detail.html