Dean Murray, first elected Tea Party activist, joins N.Y. Legislature Monday

The Tea Party crowd now has its first elected office holder.

He's Dean Murray, a 45-year-old Long Island businessman, who won a lengthy recount in a special election for a New York State Assembly seat.

Murray, a Tea Party organizer from the protest movement's very beginning last year, also ran on its anti-tax, anti-big government platform. He takes the official oath of office Monday.

While Tea Party supporters have played influential roles in other elections such as Republican Sen. Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts, others are now running in GOP primaries elsewhere. Murray is believed to be the first to take office. He'll have to run again in this fall's regular election.

As advised by Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin, Murray picked a political party, the Republicans. He defeated Democrat Lauren Thoden by about 160 votes out of 8,000 in the 3rd Assembly District of eastern Long Island that has been represented by Democrats for the past 13 years.

"Whether they are active in the Tea Party movement or not," Murray told Fox News, "we want a smaller government. We want fiscal responsibility. We want accountability from our political leaders, and we want personal responsibility."

Murray said he wants to take a Ronald Reagan-type common sense attitude to Albany, adding, "What this movement is about is ordinary citizens, taxpayers, hard working people who have just had enough."

During the winter campaign, Murray's opponents argued against him because, they said, his election would send a message well beyond the district's borders. Murray says he hopes so.

Speaking at a Republican Party fundraiser in Arkansas Tuesday, Palin said Tea Party activists must make a choice. "Which party will best fit you?" she asked. "And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they're going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: 'R' or 'D'."

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Comments

[Steve]

But...but...but....Nancy Pelosi told us that the tea party was all 'astro turf'! How could this have happened!?

[John Kramer]

Fiscal responsibility and lower taxes are at odds. In order to get the budget deficit and national debt under control, we will have to both decrease spending AND increase taxes.

[tim gallien]

Tea parties of 09 and 10 are not about freedom and liberty, or taxes. They are about wining that their candidate was not elected. All of a sudden the Gadsden Flag is on Fox News, and other media alike (ie, all the rest). Humans never fail to prove their ignorance more than when they feel (by manufacture)that they are the victims of others(the opposing party). I sit here having screamed the message of freedom and liberty for the last two years along with other supporters of Ron Paul, Mike Gravel, Denise Kucinich, Independents, Constitutionalists, and Libertarians. And only now after the election of our new president do we hear sounds, or a faint glimmer of hope that people are waking up to reality.

Sadly, the reality is that people still believe that government has a two party system. And that their differences are so great between them, people will fight with religious fervor and rivalry, not understanding that their politicians are the same people being pulled by (Corporatocracy) the same strings for the same reasons (slavery) to perpetuate and engineer (through fear) the peoples ignorance of the truth.

These tea parties, talking of government spending, and the unfair taxation of the people of the country sound great on the surface because its true. But the reasons behind peoples causes have never been more false.

When people like me live under a republican administration, we are seen and are said to be left wing conspiracy theorists, libertarians, Constitutionalists, radicals, and threats to national security. When people like me live under a democratic administration, we are called right wing conspiracy theorists, libertarians, Constitutionalists, militia men, and threats to national security.

These tea parties are nothing more than special interest groups, who are interested with nothing more than their own (manufactured by consent of the weak mind) agenda. These are the same people who were silent when G.W. Bush spent his way into history on his war on terrorism (freedom?), ie, you. These are the same people who believe that torture works, like in the movies or on T.V. These are same people who say we are turning into a socialist state, not understanding the state of our nation as it already is.
Where were you all, during the last 96 years? Why now? Where were you during the bailout of wall street and AIG among others during the last administration? Where were you?

Silent in apathy.

I won’t make the mistake of thinking that because you say the words freedom, taxes and liberty, that it forgives your ignorance. When in truth, it only proves it.
tim gallien

[Linda]

Ouch Tim! While I am sure there are many who fall into the category you describe, could it not be that there are those, even perhaps a majority, among us who have finally been awakened to the reality of what has been occurring all these years?

I don't want to proffer excuses to you (but I will), many of us have been busy just trying to hold our lives together and haven't truly seen what was happening. There had always seemed to be reason to be hopeful or, yes - I admit - complacent. Thank goodness these alarms starting going off and that there are people willing to stand up and tirelessly articulate the issues in a way that shook some of us alert. I do understand that there have been these people all along, but most come to ses things in their own time. You say that for the past two years you have been shouting. Thank you. But it takes time.

I think that the tea parties are absolutely about freedom, liberty and taxes -at least the ones that I have seen - and that is what is important to me as well. It is what resonated with me initially and made me want to look up, look around and become aware. I am still learning. It's a lot of crap to wade through and I am fortunate that I can take the time to try and sort through it all. Many people cannot. Your second paragraph is what I have come to see as the truth - so see? It can become clear. It just takes time and vigilance.

So, I hope you don't give up hope and I hope that you can give those of us who are finally seeing the light a break. Better late than never?

[Tim gallien]

Thanks Linda
you are a breath of fresh air
as you know, it becomes more frustrating as you awaken, when it seems your the only one.
Thanks for giving me a little hope, it goes along way for those who are awake. Because it has to.

[Mike Rizzo]

Cutting taxes, as history proves, generates more dollars coming in. You can't raise taxes when the the tax base is shrinking from unemployment!! (about10%)The govrnt adds more and more jobs and by doing so takes money to fund those jobs with TAXES!! So it lame to think raising taxes will work. Look at California

[Judy Pepenella]

Tim,

All of us were watching and screaming at our TVs back with the tax and spend errors of Pres Bush. (yes, I said errors!) We all had one problem ... we actually believed our Government would stop and fix the mess and start doing the right thing. We were wrong!

The Tea Party Positions are simple: (1) Constitutional government, (2) Free markets, (3) Limited government, and (4) Fiscal responsibility. We want this at Federal, State and local levels and will strive to make this happen.

We have a simple statement that says it all:

SILENT NO MORE

Judy Pepenella
Conservative Society for Action
http://www.csa-1776.org
csa.1776@yahoo.com
Tea Party PatriotN YS State Co-Coordinator
National Leadership Council

[Nelly D.]

To be honest I trust this Tea Party as much as I can throw them (which isn't very far considering I'm 5'3). For me they seem like the Republican Party renamed and rebranded because we all know it isn't cool to be a Republican these days. They are preaching the same thing the Republicans always preached -low taxes, free markets and small government; liberty, freedom and all that jazz. And what happens when they take office - more taxes, bigger governments and less freedom. And they're following Sarah Pallin (seriously!?). Maybe is Ron Paul was running things then I would have more trust but any campaign led by the mess that is Sarah Pallin is a campaign that I don't want to be part of. If this Murray guy actually does what he promises to do (which I doubt, but it could happen) then maybe I'll change my mine. So far I've learn that it is all the same, Republican, Democrat and Tea Party freedom fighter. I doubt I'll see any real change for a while.

[Satch]

I am very disappointed in Dean Murray. He's turned into what he says he's against - just another Albany politician. He's part of the problem now, just filling his pockets. Signing up for the Cadillac health plan, getting thousands to sit on some do-nothing committee, heck he's even reimbursed for gas. Dean is a hero of "same 'ol, same 'ol."

What did The Who say? "Meet the new boss...same as the old boss."