Generous TPN Donor,

This will be the last email that I send as webmaster of Tea Party Nation. This has been a hard week, and today I've had to make one of the most difficult decisions of my life.

Like you, I've become increasingly frustrated with the big spending nanny state that Washington seems intent on forcing upon us. For so long I've thought that I could do nothing to stop it. With the tea party movement springing up in February of this year, it began to look like all that was changing. I contacted Judson Phillips, the organizer of the rally, to see how I could lend my services. As a web design and development professional, naturally I started to think of ways that I could utilize those skills for the good of the movement.

For the second tea party, the idea came about to have a tea party in every one of the 95 counties in Tennessee, no matter how small any single one of them were. I developed a website using an existing social network platform to enable each of the county leaders to post information about their respective tea parties on the site. This would allow us to have an up-to-date listing of all the tea parties in Tennessee. I knew that the national organization had become overwhelmed with the task of updating information about each individual tea party. My intent was to use the website as a tool to avoid this same problem for Tennessee since we were quite understaffed. I always intended for the social networking capability, while intriguing and worthy of discussion, to come second to the effective broadcast of quick, relevant information about the tea parties.

I also assumed and have pushed for Tea Party Nation to be set up as a non-profit organization with the express purpose of advancing the goals of the tea party movement and putting pressure on our elected officials.

Unfortunately, this week it has come to my attention that Tea Party Nation has recently been incorporated as a for-profit organization, and the primary vision seems to be that of making the website a strong, conservative social network.

In no way do I take exception with Judson's vision for a strong, conservative social network, but I did not sign up with this movement to help create a for-profit corporation. I wish Judson the best and hope he is blessed with many fine endeavors in the future. However, I certainly take strong exception with building a corporation using the altruistic contributions of hundreds of volunteers, donors, corporate sponsors, and vocal, public champions of the tea party movement. I believe that you gave generously of your time and money because you assumed, like I did, that this was a non-profit effort meant to plan and pay for rallies and advance the goals of the tea party. For this very reason, I cannot continue to be involved with Tea Party Nation.

When I assumed the organization would be a non-profit, I pushed to collect donations via the ChipIn on the website. I apologize to you and fault myself for not doing my due diligence to discover the manner in which Tea Party Nation was to be set up. As a donor, you deserve to know how the money you've donated is spent. The little over $800 I have received from your donations for my work with the website has not yet been spent, and it will be donated to a legitimate non-profit set up to advance the goals of the tea party.

Do not let this discourage your involvement with the movement! I beg you, please continue being involved. And if you're a fan of Tea Party Nation, by all means, please continue to utilize it however you see fit.

As far as my future with the movement... I am not sure where I will go from here. I am still just as passionate about the cause as I was when I first joined the movement, and I will continue to fight for limited government, free markets, and individual liberty!

I'm sure you will have comments for me. You deserve the right to speak your mind here, and so I encourage you to send me a note — regardless of the tone — by replying to this email or clicking this link. I fully expect my inbox to be filled tomorrow, and while I will not be able to respond to every letter, I promise I will read every single one.

You deserve my personal apology for the role I've unwittingly played in leading you to donate to what you believed was a charitable cause. I assure you it was not intentional, and I pray you'll accept my apology.

Kevin Smith

Former Webmaster of Tea Party Nation