WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Money problems could hamper Tea Party candidates starting with the 2010 elections, officials say.
Members of the grass roots movement say there are several reasons funding is short, Politico reported Monday.
The recession, unemployment, ambivalence and the lack of heavy-handed solicitations are among the reasons some Tea Party candidates are under-funded, the Washington publication said.
"I don't blame them (fundraisers), since most of these people are so new to the process and they don't know anything beyond the protests, but, at the end of the day, the energy and the passion will only take you so far," said Ned Ryun, president of American Majority.
The Tea Party is faced with a paradox, Ryun said. Its ideology is anti-establishment, but that sentiment prevents it from developing the resources required to be a strong political force.
Ironically, those within the movement who have raised large sums of money are looked at with a sideways glance, the report said.
"When you start chasing the money, you start having to compromise, and that's where a lot of organizations go wrong," Everett Wilkinson, a South Florida financial adviser who runs two of the biggest Tea Party groups in Florida. "If we stay trim and we keep our overhead small, we won't have to raise a lot of money and we won't have to compromise. No one owns us."
