::UPDATE:: State Rep. Teasley says in the comments that he won’t be there, and that the information is “incorrect.” I take the Representative at his word, but here’s a screen-cap of what the Gilmer Tea Party sent out:
Perhaps he should give those folks a call.
Scaring religious people to mine their votes is a political practice at least as old as Ralph Reed. But there’s always been a protocol about raising cain, religious or otherwise, in somebody else’s backyard. It’s poor form for instance, for one State Representative to hold even something non-controversial, like a town hall meeting, in another State Representative’s district -especially without inviting or notifying the potential host.
Which is why an invitation from the “Georgia Constitutional Coalition” and The Tea Party of Gilmer County seems so… odd.
The event is to take place in Ellijay, in House Speaker David Ralston’s district, just down the road from his home. That makes it odd, because the Speaker has taken a very cautious approach to the issue, trying to distill any legitimate fear of attacks on religious freedom from the ambitions of those who seek only to whip their coreligionists into a political frenzy, rather than a spiritual one. Read more