Story and Photo Annie Feidt, APRN – Anchorage
Top officials with the Tea Party Express were in Anchorage on Monday to begin campaigning for US Senate Candidate Joe Miller. Miller is trying to win the Republican primary on August 24 against incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski.
The Tea Party Express was expelled from the National Tea Party Federation this weekend after one if its founders made racist comments on his blog. Mark Williams wrote a satirical letter that was supposed to be from the NAACP to Abraham Lincoln that read, in part, “We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing.” Today, Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer said Williams won’t lose his job as party spokesman.
The Tea Party Express won’t say exactly how much money they will spend to elect Joe Miller or how many paid staff and volunteers they intend to have on the ground in Alaska.
Steve Wackowski is communications director for US Senator Lisa Murkowski. He says he was shocked and disappointed by the Mark Williams racist comments. And he says the Tea Party Express only intends to smear Senator Murkowski.
The Tea Party Express says its Joe Miller ads will begin airing next week. The Tea Party Express has had success in other Republican primary battles. In Nevada, it helped Senate candidate Sharron Angle defeat a better-known Republican, pouring a half-million dollars into her campaign.
Download Audio (MP3)
