NSTeaParty

North Shore TEA Party Coalition

Taxed Enough Already Rally

What the Press is saying...

Organizer teams with Republicans to stage tax protest (http://www.pioneerlocal.com/mortongrove/news/1614744,morton-grove-teaparty-061109-s1.article) June 9, 2009 By NICK KATZ nkatz@pioneerlocal.com

As Patrick Kansoer talks about a "tea party" protest planned for this month, he reaches over to an end table and picks up an open copy of "Rules for Radicals" that he has been reading. The book, a guide to community organizing, was written by Chicago's Saul Alinsky, considered the father of modern community organizing.

There's a certain irony to the book, since Kansoer remains unimpressed by organizer turned president, Barack Obama, who he says simply filled voters with "false hope. He ran a campaign based on change. Change to what?" Kansoer asked.

Kansoer himself is no stranger to organizing. He has been a frequent critic of Morton Grove's municipal government and headed a group that sued to block construction of a mosque at the Muslim Community Center near his home.

Now Kansoer says he wants to reach people fed up with taxes -- wild spending by both Republicans and Democrats.

They are the people he compares to the "silent majority" Richard Nixon addressed in 1969 -- the group which didn't take part in the antiwar demonstrations, which didn't make the headlines, but that is credited with putting Nixon in the White House.

Though the issues are not the same, Kansoer said he believes the same type of people took part in the tax day protests in April and will come to his "tea party" this month.

Kansoer is among the main organizers of the North Shore TEA Party Coalition, which along with the Niles Township Regular Republican Organization, will hold what they say will be the North Shore's first Tea Party June 20. The event begins at 11 a.m. in Harms Woods.

Kansoer calls the event political, but nonpartisan, open to Democrats, Republicans and independents "who disagree with high taxes and corrupt politicians."

Although he didn't take part in the April 15 demonstrations, Kansoer watched them unfold and sympathized with the sentiments. He said he considers all taxes "extortion."

"For the most part these were very well meaning people who didn't know how to organize," Kansoer said. "This was like the silent majority of the '70s, people who want to be living their lives, paying their bills, raising their kids."

Kansoer, who voted for Ron Paul in November, said people who share his views need some kind of representation. He's hoping the event this month will help them get together. "Almost every other group has an organization and a way of getting their message out," he said. "No one is giving notice to the people paying the bills."

Kansoer said the June 20 date was chosen at random. But as it turns out, he said, it does hold special meaning. "It's the anniversary of the French Parliament telling King Louis to blow it out his ear," Kansoer said.

Like critics at the April 15 event, who complained about taxes, Kansoer called the tax cut he said was promised by President Obama a lie. "There are so many different kinds of taxes. I am personally opposed to income tax in general," he said.

"The problem is as an individual I have income and expenses. If I don't have enough income I have to make more money or cut expenses. I don't have the choice to steal it from my neighbors."

Once Kansoer began organizing the event, Joe Hedrick, Niles Township Republican committeeman, approached him with the idea of taking part in the tea party. Hedrick, chairman of the township Republicans, has been involved in both state and local politics and knew Kansoer.

The idea of a tax protest also resonated with him. "I'm an antitax person," Hedrick said. Hedrick said that although the Niles Township Regular Republican Organization is named as a cosponsor of the tea party, like Kansoer he does not want it to be a partisan event. "I didn't want it to be a political event, a Republican Party event," he said. "I want it to be a citizen event."

Unlike Kansoer, Hedrick said he traveled to the Chicago loop for the April 15 demonstration. "There are people who love taxes and people on the other side who hate taxes. I'm one of those who hates taxes."

Kansoer said he expects guest speakers at the tea party, including Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, R-16th, who has already accepted.

But his main objective, he said, is to allow people with similar concerns to meet and organize.

"The event is nonpolitical, if nothing else a way for people to come out and let off steam, meet others who are perhaps of the same mind," Kansoer said. "I believe the politicians have forgotten that they are our public servants. I want to remind some of them of that fact."