Just had a meeting with the staff planning the logistics of the March on Washington. We are figuring out the best venue for the Thursday Liberty Summit, and it’s looking like it could be George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. Waiting to hear back from them on availability for the morning of the 10th.

Thursday afternoon is the best time to head over to Capitol Hill to meet with Congressmen, Senators and their staff. You can go ahead and let them know that you will be in town that afternoon. You can even try to set up appointments with their office for you and/or your group. If you need help doing this, please contact Andrew Moylan of National Taxpayers Union amoylan@ntu.org

As for the Friday FreedomWorks dinner, we are talking to the Daughters of the American Revolution – Constitution Hall about hosting it. Once we get confirmation on this, you will be the first to know. DAR Hall would be a fantastic location for a dinner. We are also reaching out to various speakers for the dinner, and hope to have someone that you will really enjoy!

Saturday’s March is going to begin near the White House, probably at Freedom Plaza at Pennsylvania Ave. and 14th St. NW. We have some alternative starting points in mind, but will make that decision soon. The end point of the march is the West Lawn of the Capitol Building, right in front of the steps. We will set up the stage there and have video screens for those who aren’t close to the stage. There will also be spillover areas for those that don’t fit in the immediate area. We are hammering out the details of the program, which will consist of speakers, music and video clips from activists from around the country. We are taking your suggestions into consideration, and making the best decisions we can.

Hope this helps to give you a sense of where we are, 8 weeks out from the event. Please check back here in a week or so for more updates. Thanks, and we will see you in DC!


View 9/12 Taxpayer Protest in a larger map

Thanks to Lisa Miller for editing and uploading! She did an amazing job organizing and promoting the event. Below is Part One.

And here is Part Two.

I spoke at the DC Tea Party today at Upper Senate Park. There were 2000 people in attendance, and the crowd was fired up. I got a chance to talk to CNN reporter Paul Steinhauser, who is a nice guy and shares my surname. Here is the report that CNN filed earlier today.

Congrats to Lisa and Patrick for putting together a great event. Everyone is looking forward to the next big protest day on September 12th, right back here in Washington. It was pretty exciting to see both CNN and CBS mention the March on Washington in their reports.

This story ran today in Human Events about the hundreds of taxpayer tea parties being held across the country this weekend. It quotes yours truly and my colleague Adam Brandon extensively. One thing that isn’t quite correct is the agenda for the march on Washington on September 12th. The updated agenda for the event is here.

Brendan Steinhauser, a national coordinator for FreedomWorks, has been traveling around the country since February working with grassroots activists organizing tax protests. FreedomWorks and a coalition of organizations believe it is time to take the tax protests straight to Capitol Hill. There are more than 6,000 people from all over the country registered to attend the National Taxpayer Protest March on Washington. Steinhauser expects that number to grow substantially as people learn the details of the Obama administration’s health care and cap-and-trade energy plans and what those plans will do to their personal finances, tax rates and medical care.

“Some of the media missed the story on this,” Steinhauser said, referring to the tea party movement that erupted in April, but was summarily ridiculed and dismissed by the media. He plans on speaking at the tea party Miller is helping arrange and is assisting other groups and individuals organizing protests in other parts of the country. The idea for a March on Washington came from a group of organizers who put together the April 15 tea parties and felt that the message the protests sent to elected officials had been ignored. The march is a three-day event including visits with congressmen and senators, workshops and seminars and gatherings at area memorials leading up to the march from the Lincoln Memorial to the United States Capitol Building on Saturday. FreedomWorks and their coalition partners have invited numerous politicians and personalities from the media and entertainment fields to participate.

Steinhauser also noted that the people he meets who are dealing with all the details of setting up these tea parties do not have political aspirations themselves, but they are taking time away from their careers and families because the men and women running their country are not listening to their constituents.

“It’s a good group and a coalition of the willing,” Steinhauser said. “This has the potential to get huge.”

Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks press secretary, said the tea party movement goes beyond party lines. At several past events there were as many liberals and independents as conservatives in attendance and he cited Rep.Walt Minnick (D.-Idaho) and Rep. Gene Taylor, (D-Miss.), as allies to the tea party cause because of their voting records which are “better than some Republicans.”

“They are absolutely welcome to join with us,” Brandon said.

He said momentum is building and the message is getting through to politicians such as Sen. Ben Nelson, (D-Neb.), whose office was slammed with e-mails and phone calls from tea party members letting the senator know what they thought of the current state of affairs. That momentum will make it difficult to ignore the protests.