The leaders of two Summit County-based groups aligned with the Tea Party condemned last weekend’s Tucson, Ariz., shootings, saying that the movement is nonviolent even as others see the political right as fomenting anger in the country.
The shootings sparked widespread national discussion about the tone of politics in the U.S. recently and the rise of the conservative Tea Party movement. The two local groups — known as the Save The American Republic Forum and the Park City Patriots — are recent additions to the political scene.
Jacqueline Smith, the founder of the Save The American Republic Forum, attributed the shootings in Arizona to one person making a bad decision. She said her group encourages people to act with “peace” and “civility.”
“I’ve never seen one violent act yet from any member of those groups,” she said about the Tea Party movement.
Smith said the Save The American Republic Forum and like-minded groups do not condone violence.
“I don’t think anyone’s asking for violence in any situation, ever. We have peaceful means to have redress,” Smith said, describing figures like Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa as being inspirations to her group.
Meanwhile, the founder of the Park City Patriots said the Tea Party movement should not be tied to the shootings. Brian LaFave said the Tea Party’s role was “none at all” as he called the shootings an “absolute tragedy.”
“I think it was some nutjob that finally flipped out,” LaFave said, adding, “The last thing the Tea Party is about is violence.”
LaFave said the political left is attempting to keep itself intact.
“As far as I’m concerned, we didn’t have anything to do with it,” LaFave said, adding, “They blame Republicans and conservatives for everything.”
The local Tea Party movement had a minor role in the 2010 local campaign and has not appeared to have significant influence on Park City or Summit County politics.
Glenn Wright, the chairman of the Summit County Democratic Party and the party’s unsuccessful candidate in a Statehouse campaign in 2010, agreed in an interview with the assertions that the local Tea Party-influenced groups do not condone violence.
In an e-mail message to The Park Record explaining his position, Wright said the shootings increase “the political temperature” if they were motivated by politics.
“It is incumbent on political and opinion leaders to draw a clear line between disagreement and hatred. We can disagree with our political opponents without vilifying them. Hatred engenders violence,” Wright said in the message.
He said conservatives have been especially intense in their opposition to the political left.
“I disagree with the premise that hate speech and advocacy of violence is coming from both sides of the political spectrum. That was the case in decades past, but in today’s political environment it has become the accepted tool of the political right,” Wright said. “The racism and visceral hatred spewing from the Beck’s and Limbaugh’s of the talk show world toward the president forms a base upon which the fanatic can justify violence against their political enemies.”