11 months ago
Several hundred people attended Western New York's first-ever Tea Party Saturday at Buffalo's Inner Harbor.
The event was a spin-off of the Boston Tea Party which protested taxation without representation.
Many in attendance said that's exactly what they feel is happening in New York. They said the state's top three elected leaders are hammering out a budget by themselves. Meanwhile, they said dozens of other elected lawmakers are completely shut out of the process.
"You cannot sit behind closed doors and beat out a budget with three people. How many millions of people live in New York State?" organizer Rus Thompson questioned.
The political activist said he was pleased by the Saturday afternoon turn-out and was glad to see fresh faces putting up a fight.
"One thing that happens all too often is we have some kind of rally, some kind of protest, and it's the same twenty or thirty people that come out," Thompson said.
He announced plans for a second tea party at Club W on Saturday, April 18th from 1 to 5 p.m. He also encouraged people to stay informed about what's going on in Albany and asked them to call their legislators--not just once, but repeatedly.
"You've got to be a thorn in their side. You've got to start calling them every week, a couple times a week," he said.
