DONATE

RINO Tea Party activist attempts to shut down Fort Independence Tea Party and demonize MassResistance over inclusion of family values

Destruction of the conservative movement from the inside

POSTED: August 30, 2010

Massachusetts is unfortunately on the forefront of many destructive trends across the country. The latest: RINOs ("Republicans In Name Only") who demand that "social" and moral issues be purged from ALL Tea Party events managed to shut down the Lexington Tea Party on July 25. And now they've been at it again.

The Fort Independence Tea Party in South Boston on August 22 was a great success despite the rain that day. But it happened despite tireless efforts to derail it by a prominent GOP activist who is also employed by a politically moderate pro-family group.

Keynote speaker Don Feder cancels

When it was announced that Don Feder would be the keynote speaker at the Fort Independence Tea Party, it got immediate attention across the state. Don is a well-known writer, lecturer and pro-family leader going back over 20 years.

But a few days later Don was in contact with Christen Varley regarding his appearance at the event. Varley was primarily responsible for the shutting down of the Lexington Tea Party, and her outrageous actions prompted the organizers to do this one. (We are still determining whether Don contacted Varley first having heard she was upset at his coming to the event, or she contacted him first.) In any case, Don told us that unless we could guarantee that no speaker at the event would say anything bad about Varley, he'd have to cancel his appearance. We told him we didn't think anyone had any intention of mentioning her, but we weren't going to explicitly ban speakers from saying anything. So Don said he'd have to pull out.

Luckily, we were able to get other speakers to step in who did not share Don's concerns.

Going after Tea Party leaders

And that's not all. Since it was advertised that Tea Party leaders would be speaking that day, Varley contacted Tea Party leaders around the state to persuade them not to be a part of it. We heard stories from various Tea Party leaders about their interaction with Varley. The ones who came, such as David Beaupre of the North Shore Independence Tea Party, told Varley to take a hike and mind her own business. Varley even contacted the organizer of the Fort Independence event who refused to back down.

Varley warns candidates: Camenker & MassResistance are "toxic"

But Varley put her biggest energy into contacting Republican candidates across Massachusetts. Varley insists that pro-family and moral issues, including discussions about public funding of the homosexual agenda in schools, have no place in Tea Party events. In particular, according to emails we've seen, she told candidates that even appearing at an event where Brian Camenker of MassResistance (who she refers to as "toxic") spoke would seriously hurt their chances for election.

Here's an example of what Varley emailed:

Here's from another email Varley sent about Brian Camenker:

Just who is Christen Varley?

Why does this woman think she has the authority to interfere with other people's events? Why does she think she's politically so much smarter than everyone? More and more Tea Party activists are becoming angry and outraged at this. And they should.

Christen Varley as Republican chairman in Holliston

There are some very troubling issues regarding Varley:

• Gives impression of being the statewide Tea Party leader. Varley gets lots of local and national publicity as head of "The Greater Boston Tea Party" which she formed with a few friends when the Tea Party movement erupted last year. And she's a tireless self-promoter and projects an image as the state Tea Party head. But in fact, her group is no different than the other numerous Tea Party groups around the state.
  
• Well-liked by media as a moderate: Unlike other Tea Party leaders around the country, Varley is well-liked by the mainstream media. She's considered sensible and moderate by the establishment press. (Not like the other Tea Party "rabble" which the media have only contempt for.) As head of the Greater Boston Tea Party she's had numerous friendly articles published about her in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, and even the Wall Street Journal, as well as many "softball" local radio interviews.
  
  On the other hand, Varley appears to have a strong antipathy against the parents' rights movement, especially regarding the homosexual agenda in schools, and has referred to parents and citizens involved with MassResistance as "nut jobs."
  
• Conflict of interest: Employed as political consultant. Varley is employed by Massachusetts Family Institute's (MFI) "Coalition for Marriage and Family" which consults to political candidates. MFI is a "moderate" pro-family group that declinde to support the David Parker Parents Rights Bill (H406) and the bill to repeal the buffer zone around abortion clinics (H3840). MFI's failed "Let the People Vote" effort proposed a "moderate" marriage amendment that would have allowed civil unions. MFI seeks to ingratiate itself with officeholders by not appearing "fringe." Varley's attacks on Brian Camenker have apparently been done with the knowledge and consent of MFI's leadership and Board. Political expediency trumps principles, to say the least.
  
• Other conflict of interest: Big Republican activist. Varley is chairman of the Holliston Republican Town Committee, and on her Internet postings she uses the handle "GOPMom." She has strong ties to the state Republican establishment. Not exactly the kind of non-partisan independence people expect from Tea Party leaders.
  
• Intentional obfuscation? Varley has been using her Greater Boston Tea Party email address when pressuring other Tea Party leaders and emailing Tea Party activists, even when she is clearly acting through her employer MFI and her Republican Party connections regarding candidates and races.

Varley actually has no authority to interfere with other Tea Party groups. Her group is separate from all the others. But Varley is able to confuse activists who don't know better, to achieve her political goals.

Are parents' rights really toxic?

Is this actually true? Is standing up for parents' rights -- including opposing the radical homosexual agenda targeting schoolchildren -- in fact toxic?

(Watch the video of Brian Camenker's speech at the Tea Party.)

Actually, just the opposite is true. Varley is simply spreading the RINO propaganda. For example:

• In 2004 Rep. Joyce Spiliotis (D-Peabody), who had voted pro-family, was being challenged in the Democratic primary by an extremely well-funded lesbian activist backed by skilled community organizers. It truly looked like Rep. Spiliotis might lose! We stepped in and mailed a strongly worded letter to voters across her district, held a press conference at Peabody City Hall, and phone-banked voters. The result: On election day Rep Spiliotis won every precinct!
  
• That same year, in tight races with challengers we also publicly supported Reps Philip Travis, Rep. Emile Goguen, and Rep. Shirley Gomes. All of them won their races. (In the latter two, we did mailings in their districts.)
  
• As a state senator, Scott Brown co-sponsored our parents' rights legislation. He also spoke out on pro-family issues. He had no problem winning his next local election.

The real problem is the Massachusetts Republican Party establishment. They (1) are deathly afraid of what the liberal media writes and (2) are trying to compete with the Democrats by attracting pro-homosexual and pro-choice social liberals, as was outlined in Party Chairman Jennifer Nassour's now-infamous interview last year in the homosexual newspaper Bay Windows.

And as we've reported, Camenker has spoken for MassResistance at several Tea Party events across Massachusetts - including Tea Parties in South Boston, East Longmeadow, Plymouth, and Chicopee -- and was well received at all of them.

And at those events virtually everyone who hears our presentation is outraged. This even crosses party lines. It's the radical activists and RINOs who don't want it discussed.

Becoming the pro-family movement's worst nightmare . . .

As we're seeing, this is also starting to happen across the country.

In many ways this represents a far worse threat than the radical Left. If Republican candidates are told by people they trust that the homosexual agenda in the schools and other "social issues" are "toxic" and will cause them to lose elections, what do you think will happen when they get elected? They'll continue to stay away from these issues -- and cave in to the other side faster than ever. And of course, even more taxpayer money than ever will flow into those programs.

This is extremely serious. Elections are the best time to raise these issues and hold politicians' feet to the fire. But instead, anyone who talks about it is being demonized -- by supposed "conservatives". And as a result, this gives the left and the media an open door to pile on even more and make the pro-family position appear "fringe" -- exactly what the radical left wants!

What you can do now: Make them stop!

If you think it's bad in the schools now, wait until Christen Varley and Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI)  get done with their work.

Contact MFI here (phone/email). Tell them to STOP this destructive "strategy."