I just got back from Fox News broadcast of the following clip about the “National Tea Party Convention” in Nashville, Tennessee.

Upon arrival here at the hotel in Dallas where about 100 tea party activists are in a training seminar, I learned that the organizers of the Nashville event are apparently trying to point fingers at organizations and groups who stepped away from their event, by sending out emails of excuses.

This is unfortunate, and reconfirms our original suspicions about the nature of those putting the event together.

In the email, the organizers try and go after multiple organizations, including ours. They use the line about ALA not being a non-profit as an attempt to try and justify some of their perceived problems.

The problem with this is that it’s an apples and oranges comparison.

As I discussed with Ed Morrisey of HotAir a few weeks back, the “for-profit” model has its place in the movement. There are many cases where this is obvious, some of which we all take a part in every day.

Take Michelle Malkin or RedState.com for example. Both are excellent at championing the liberty movement through calls to political action and organizing activists for the purpose of political success.

Both examples work within the for-profit realm. Heck, RedState.com even asks for donations and holds donation drives when it needs to.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this model. Provided that people get what they pay for, it is made clear they’re getting what they pay for, and it is made clear that the money they “donate” is being used for what it was intended to be used for.

The American Liberty Alliance is proud of the way it has organized and disseminated content and information over the past year. We have a board of directors who all have access to our records and there is well grounded leadership involved in our structure.

Furthermore, ALA will be lucky if it has more than $300 in donations this month. I don’t personally follow the donations as my involvement is far more direct with “Liberty First PAC” of whom I chair. But my guess is the total “donations” for ALA this month will be no more than a couple hundred bucks… if that.

When we have a need, we explain the need and ask for folks to help pay for it. It’s that simple.

And again, we’re proud of how we’ve operated and we certainly believe others can as well.

For several months now, ALA has been transitioning into a non-profit model. One of our board members filed the non-profit paperwork a few months back, and we’ve just been trying to find the best way to make the move.

That said, just because you’re a for-profit does not mean you’re profiting. In fact, many “not for profits” have leadership that is paid more in a year than you or I might be paid in ten.

The difference here is clear for us, but it isn’t clear for Tea Party Nation. And THAT has been the problem.

-Eric Odom

Eric Odom

Eric Odom is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the American Liberty Alliance. Eric is a libertarian minded, free-market activist. His profession is web strategy and online community development.

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