NORWICH – The Chenango Tea Party hosted a ribbon cutting opening its campaign headquarters in the heart of downtown Norwich Thursday. The campaign center, located in a storefront at 5 South Broad St., will remain open until the presidential election. The office will be manned by members of the Tea Party from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
“We want to explain to people, in a nonpartisan way, the truth about the candidates, how they really stand on issues, not the hype,” said Chenango Tea Party founder and coordinator Charles Resseguie. “We want to inform people. We get our information from other tea party groups,” he said.
“We have lots of different sources, tea party groups, and lots of online sources,” added Gilda Ward.
“We’re even getting some of our sources from the liberal media,” said Resseguie. “Newsweek magazine just published a cover story titled ‘Hit the road, Barack.’ The New York Times and other liberal media are digging up things and coming out against tyranny,” he said.
“I heard about the stimulus and all the bills the were being passed and I said to myself, someone needs to do something about this, and then I realized I was that someone ... we’re taking our nation back, with God’s help,” said Resseguie.
The Chenango Tea Party’s first rally took place on April 12, 2009 in front of the county courthouse. “Around 120 to 200 like-minded people showed up for it (and since then) a lot of patriots from nearby have come to see how we run our rallies,” said Ward.
“Since our inception, we have been a help in starting other similar groups in the area and we’ve taken a leadership role in creating local tea party groups,” said Resseguie. “Our group as well as others are concerned about who will be elected, because the president is responsible for choosing judges for the supreme court. Without a conservative president to choose conservative judges, the country will not survive with liberal judges,” he said.
“I’ve talked to other tea party members and we are growing. Maybe we have shifted gears a little, but we’re stronger than ever. You could say we’re maturing,” said Ward.
“We want to vote out incumbents who are not doing what they said they would; that’s why I am running (for office),” said coordinator Michael Kicinski about his congressional bid. Current Rep. Richard Hanna “votes against Republican values, he votes in favor of gay marriage, and continued spending,” said Kicinski.
Bill Brenchley, a resident of the Binghamton area, said he started attending the Chenango Tea Party’s monthly meetings around two years ago. “The people here are friendly. They think the way I do, and there’s nothing quite like it by me. I like it better here than in Binghamton because they have different ideas down there, they are more about education. I don’t need to sit in school to learn what I want. I’d rather be active on the streets, you know getting the trucks to honk at me,” said Brenchley.
“Obama’s answer to everything is to concentrate power,” said attending author and guest speaker William Fedderer.
“We’re trying to encourage locals to get involved in the political process. It’s a lot of work to get conservative candidates that we support into office,” said Resseguie. The organization’s next rally will be on Sept. 22 in Norwich’s East Park.