Tea Party Convention Draws Smaller Crowd Than Last Year

The South Bay Tea Party kicked off election season with a smaller turnout than expected at its second annual convention, drawing 276 attendees on Sunday night to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

Earlier in the week, party co-founder Christine Vinquist had said 500 people would attend the event.  

But party organizers said 350 tickets had been sold online, and a little more than three-quarters of that number had walked through the doors that night, said Gary Aven, chairman of the South Bay Tea Party.

Last year, more than 500 people went to the tea party convention. Aven attributed this year's lower turnout to its landing on the same weekend as the California Republican Party convention in San Diego. Many other tea party members had told him they would be on vacation, he said.

Though numbers were lower, there was lots of cheering. The audience got to its feet several times in support of exhortations by keynote speakers for limited government, freedom and fiscal responsibility.

Since the chapter was founded in April 2009, its ranks have swelled to 1,500 members. The night was a tribute to a message that Newt Gingrich had culled as the Republican rallying cry: "Don't tell me it can't be done."

Speakers, which included Republican candidates running for state and congressional offices, expanded the message to include the fiscal-minded mission of the tea party.

"Our country's spending is out of control," Rabbi Nachum Shifren, who is running for the state Senate's 26th District seat, said during his address. "We need to shrink the government, balance the budget and read the bill before you pass it. We need work-fare, not welfare."

Star Parker, a candidate for a U.S. House seat, brought the audience to a standing ovation. Parker, who lived on welfare as a single mom until she graduated from college and started her own business, said personal responsibility, not the redistribution of money, is one of the keys to alleviating poverty.

"Our nation needs to liberate its poor," Parker said. "We need to restore prosperity and freedom to our nation."

The speakers also denounced accusations of bigotry and urged audience members to do their part in canvassing voters for the November elections.

Nathan Mintz, who co-founded the chapter and is running as a Republican for the state Assembly's 53rd District seat, said he would not be as involved with the party while he is campaigning.

"I have a laser beam focus for getting the state out of the gutter," Mintz said.

Editor's note: Patch will have more on the convention Monday.