Teabagging for profit - you betcha!

The "Tea Party Nation" (the Tea Party Patriots handle was used for awhile, which produced the unattractive acronym TPP, pronounced teapeepee) keeps shifting and changing names which makes branding the organization somewhat tricky.

Progressives like to remind them that it was their own members that came up with the teabag monniker early on which they quickly tried to jettison. Kind of like C.R.A.P. - Canadian Reform Alliance Party - anyone remember that snafu?

Anyhow, although the organizers of the Nashville convention next month are trying to control media spin, it appears that some journalists are asking uncomfortable questions.

The $549 per person price tag for the sold-out Feb. 4-6 event -- which is closed to all but a "select" group of media friendly to the movement -- has angered some activists. But they began to raise questions when it was revealed that, unlike those similar national events, the organizer of the convention registered the group behind the event - Tea Party Nation - as a “for profit” corporation.

The little-known organizer is Judson Phillips, a self-described "small-town lawyer." He is a former assistant district attorney now in private practice, specializing in driving-under-the-influence and personal-injury cases. He is organizing the convention with his wife, Sherry, his sister-in-law, and a handful of other volunteers.

A background check of various public records databases raises questions about how he has handled money in the past. The search shows that Phillips filed for Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy in 1999 and during the past decade, he has had three federal tax liens against him, totaling more than $22,000.

In an interview with NBC News, Phillips admitted to the financial difficulties. He declined to comment on the bankruptcy, but said the federal tax liens have been paid off. “I work for myself,” he said. “Sometimes you have a good year; sometimes you have a bad year; sometimes you get a little bit behind; the government files a lien. They’ve been paid off. ” [...]

Phillips, who said he ran in a Republican primary for a seat [a Tennessee county board] in 2002, denied that his personal finances have any bearing on his ability to be a responsible steward of Tea Party funds.

“That question is so - that question is not asked about NBC with its advertisers or anything else,” Phillips charged. “We are putting on an event that is a convention. People are paying for their attendance. It’s a private event. People who are coming to it are private; people who are participating in it are all private citizens. It’s not really any of anybody else’s concern.”

Oh really? I'd bet that some of the teabaggers might be interested in knowing where their hard-earned money is going - whether to building a political party or building a business for Judson Phillips and his friends.