Mark Galasso set up 150 chairs for the Schoharie County Tea Party’s inaugural meeting Thursday night.
One-fifty wasn’t nearly enough.
Between 350 and 400 turned out, spilling into the hall and listening intently through doors open to an outside patio.
Held at Lancaster Development in Richmondville, the meeting drew speakers who bashed big government and high taxes and urged people to get involved.
Mr. Galasso was the main speaker at the freewheeling meeting, but also taking the floor were state Senator Jim Seward, Assemblyman Pete Lopez and Tea Party leaders from nearby counties.
“We’re not a political party. We’re like-minded people trying to move the country, move state government and move local government,” Mr. Galasso said.
Fiscal responsibility, smaller government, individual freedoms and a free market are goals, Mr. Galasso added.
Senator Seward agreed, adding that April 15––income tax day––was the perfect time “to speak out against runaway spending.”
Officeholders were fair game at the meeting, however, and one man in the audience interrupted Senator Seward:
“You say we need measured cuts,” the man cried. “We need draconian cuts, like we’re doing in our homes. Why haven’t you led a revolution?”
Senator Seward replied that the campaign season was the time for action. Every state office will be on the ballot this year, the first time that’s happened since 1938, he said.
The meeting wasn’t without humor. Mr. Galasso, as emcee, announced that “we don’t have Sarah Palin––to a few groans in the audience––“but we do have Pete Lopez.”
The grass roots struggle of the Tea Party, Assemblyman Lopez said, “epitomizes what this country stands for.
“This movement is about the human spirit,” he continued. “If we stay home, stay silent, we will be overcome.”
Several candidates spoke, including Deborah Busch, who plans to challenge Democratic incumbent John McEneny in the 104th Assembly District, and Deb Stolar, who’s running for the Cobleskill-Richmondville school board.
Both targeted spending––Ms. Busch hit Democrats’ inability to stop spending in Albany, and Ms. Stollar wants to review C-R’s teachers’ salaries and benefits.
Mr. Galasso touched on candidates in general, urging the crowd to “find candidates you like and give what you can give. Money talks in politics.”
Some Tea Party meetings degenerate into name-calling, and Mr. Galasso stressed that Schoharie County’s chapter shouldn’t make that error.
“The best way to lose a fight is to disrespect your adversary,” he said.
And, he added, battling in the political arena takes more than angry words, slogans and signs.
“Read the laws, use facts,” Mr. Galasso said. “It takes effort, time, commitment, passion––all the things that made our country great.
“It can’t be one person or two people. It’s got to be 200.”
Echoing that advice was Tom Cavanaugh of the Hilltowns Tea Party.
“There’s a new bear on the block, but you need to organize and stay together,” Mr. Cavanaugh said. “Keep their feet to the fire.”
Mr. Galasso said the next Tea Party meeting will be May 11 at a site to be determined.
“We need to plan for at least 500,” he said.