Tea Party dissidents criticize convention

NASHVILLE, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Tea Party dissidents called the National Tea Party convention overpriced and top-down at a news conference Saturday outside the hall in Nashville.

The men are members of the Tennessee Tea Party Coalition, an amalgam of 34 groups that does not include Tea Party Nation, Politico reported. The convention, which features Sarah Palin as the keynote speaker, charged $549 a person.

"There are a lot of citizens in the state of Tennessee today who could not afford to be here," Antonio Hinton of Knoxville said. "They're just as patriotic. They're just as concerned. They care just as much about what's going on as the folks that are in that room."

Judson Phillips set up Tea Party Nation as a for-profit corporation and planned to use profits to fund a political action committee. But Phillips told Politico on Saturday profits are likely to be small and would be used for another convention in July.

--

(Editor's note: This version of this article removes comments by a convention participant at the participant's request.)