U.S. Senate candidate George Allen (R-VA) is taking some heat from a statewide coalition of tea party groups over a press release that announced a plethora of tea party endorsements. The press release lists some 100 or so names of tea party activists, organizers and leaders who support Allen’s candidacy for Senate.

Henrico, VA – Today George Allen received the endorsement of over 100 Tea Party Patriots throughout the Commonwealth, led by Coby Dillard, Co-Founder of the Hampton Roads Tea Party, Laura Alcorn, Co-Founder of the Richmond Patriots, Strother Smith, President of the 10^th Amendment Foundation, Ben Marchi, former State Director of Americans for Prosperity and conservative Tea Party activists Tito Munoz and Carl Tate. These Tea Party Patriots cited George Allen’s strong record on fiscal responsibility, individual liberty and his unwavering commitment to protect and stand up for the Constitution of the United States.

The press release provoked an immediate response by the Northern Virginia Tea Party and Virginia Tea Party Federation, one of the largest coalitions of tea party groups in the state. The federation claims to have approximately 40-50 legitimate groups in its membership, most of whom do not endorse or support George Allen. The group pushed out the following statement in response to George Allen’s release.

The Northern Virginia Tea Party has rebuked a George Allen campaign announcement which has implied that they and the state federation of Tea Party Patriots have endorsed his campaign and called upon George Allen to withdraw the announcement, reprimand the staff or consultants who created this misleading or dishonest announcement, meet with their leadership to offer his assurance that this will not happen again, and focus on face to face debates with other candidates seeking the support of Tea Party Patriots in Virginia for the 2012 GOP Senate nomination.

The recent announcement of Tea Party endorsement by the Allen campaign, the Tea Party statement said that “it is misleading at best, dishonest at worst. No candidate has been endorsed by any statewide Tea Party organization in Virginia and especially not by the Northern Virginia Tea Party.”

The full statement can be read here.

Karen Hurd, President of the Northern Virginia Tea Party, said George Allen is falsely claiming to have tea party support. “he’s trying to make it look like he’s got this great big groundswell of grassroots support. He does not.” Hurd suggested many names on the list of Allen’s release do not fully support Allen and did not give permission to be listed.

After a few phone calls, however, I found most names on the list were very much in support of George Allen. Michelle Stanley of the Richmond Patriots, for example, confirmed she had indeed endorsed Allen and said she believed the list was legitimate. Stanley, who is also a blogger here at CampaignTrailReport.com, believes the Northern Virginia Tea Party and VA Federation are fully in support of candidate Jamie Radkte.

Indeed, there does appear to be a conflict of interest in the response put out by the Norther Virginia Tea Party. First, Karen Hurd told me that as of yesterday she is a paid consultant for Jamie Radkte’s campaign. Second, Jamie Radkte is one of the key founding members of the VA Tea Party Federation and the coalition appears to be heavy handed with its membership and support of Radtke.

Michelle Stanley told me the Richmond Patriots had at one time been a member of the Federation, but decided to withdraw membership when it became clear the coalition was a support mechanism for Radtke’s run for Senate.

There is no doubt George Allen doesn’t have unanimous support of Virginia Tea Party Groups. That said, he certainly has legitimate claim to a fairly large support base among Virginia tea partiers. Additionally, those reacting to Allen’s tea party support are clearly doing so in the interest of Jamie Radtke.

-Eric Odom

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