 
An American flag waves above the crowd at a “tea party” at Dutchess Stadium.Â
Todd Harvey”™s mad as hell and he isn”™t going to take it anymore. Apparently, neither are the nearly 4,000 residents of the Hudson Valley who made their way to Fishkill”™s Dutchess Stadium on the night of April 15, to voice their displeasure over the government”™s burgeoning bailout package.
Harvey, whose family owns Mountain View Garden Apartments in the town of Fishkill for three generations, saw something on You Tube that really made him stand up and take notice.
“Rick Santelli was on CNBC and started saying things that nobody else was saying about what”™s going wrong with this whole stimulus package; and he was speaking the truth. It was refreshing,” said Harvey. “I liked his idea of throwing a tea party to let government leaders know we”™re tired of bailing out bad businesses while people who have been playing by the rules are being squeezed dry to pay for it.”
While many local business owners liked Harvey”™s idea, many shied away from having their name attached to something that might backfire. Luckily for Harvey, his nephew, Alex Harvey, his wife, Tracy, and Brian Callahan, owner of Callahan”™s Plumbing and Heating in Fishkill, were willing to climb on board.
“We originally wanted to have the ”˜tea party”™ in Doug Phillips Park here in Fishkill, where an actual tea party was held during the American Revolution.” But when Harvey started receiving 50 to 75 e-mails a day letting him know people were coming to the event, his small band of “revolutionaries” realized Phillips Park would not be able hold as many people as they anticipated would show up.
“Someone suggested we contact Dutchess Stadium ”“ I was a bit skeptical about the price, but we figured it out and were able to rent it out for three hours.”
Stadium owners estimated between 3,500 to 4,000 people showed up. “Traffic was backed up for miles on I-84,” Harvey said. “We had people come as far as Sullivan County who are just as disgusted with the way things are being handled in DC as we are.”
Harvey was amazed to learn later that the Hudson Valley”™s tea party was the second largest in New York state and one of the largest in the country. “It”™s only given us the momentum to keep it going,” said Harvey. “There were people there from both parties, families with kids, seniors, working people who were blue collar and carried briefcases. This wasn”™t a partisan gathering … it was a bunch of average Americans who are sick and tired of seeing money given away for bad business decisions while the rest of us are struggling to make ends meet.”
Harvey says April 15th”™s tea party movement is only going to snowball. “It”™s only made me realize all the more how wrong this whole stimulus package is and what it means to us and our kids … where”™s the future for my family? What kind of legacy are we leaving to our children? We”™ve become so desensitized by all the media hype, people don”™t realize that, in the end, the folks who are paying their bills and doing everything right are the ones getting hurt.
“I don”™t see where anything in this stimulus package is helping small business or doing anything to help average Americans. Instead, we”™re rewarding people who have done the wrong thing. The only way we are going to wake our elected officials up is to let them know that if they don”™t get the job done, they”™re out. I think our Founding Fathers are probably rolling in their graves because of what”™s going on down in Washington.”
Next stop is Washington, D.C. itself, where Harvey says the tea parties that took place on April 15th have sparked a bigger national movement that will culminate in the nation”™s capital on Saturday, July 4.
“It”™s a pretty good day to let our government know we”™ve had enough. It”™s time they do something that is positive and stop giving away money we really don”™t have.
“If anyone”™s interested in getting involved, the Web site is www.teapartypatriots.org; I”™d say we are going to give our elected officials more than something to think about. Americans really have had enough of throwing good money after bad.”
Which begs the question: What would Franklin D. Roosevelt do? “I don”™t know what FDR would have done,” said Harvey, “but I don”™t think he”™d be giving money to failed banks or telling people who can”™t make their mortgage payments that they get to stay in their home. If that were you or me, we”™d be out on the street. It”™s time we brought some common sense back to America.”
