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A bill allowing the creation of license plates featuring the Gadsden Flag, the adopted symbol of the Tea party movement, is awaiting the signature of Governor Jan Brewer, and people — a New York congressman, in particular — aren’t happy about it.
Anyone who wants a Gadsden Flag plate would have to pony up $25, $17 of which goes to “promote Tea Party governing principles” because the Tea Party is the organization that came up with the required $32,000 to create the plates.
Congressman Gary Ackerman says using government resources to bankroll a political agenda is a misuse of public money. His response: the “License Plate Political Slush Fund Prevention Act.”
Under Ackerman’s bill, the plates would cause Arizona — and any other state that issues similar plates — to lose 15 percent of its federal highway funds if any proceeds from a vanity plate go to a political group that advocates the defeat of a political candidate.
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The Tea Party isn’t officially a political party, but let’s be honest: it’s something close. And it certainly advocates for political candidates.
Tea Partiers say Ackerman’s bill is symbolic of everything they oppose: big government telling people what to do.
We want to know what you think: should Arizona lose federal highway funding over this license-plate flap?
Cast your vote below.
