Tom Cox of the Arkansas Tea Party is Considering a Senate Run (UPDATE)
Unless you have been under a rock for the last couple months, you have no doubt heard about the grassroots Tea Party movement taking place around the country. The Arkansas Tea Party website lists their principals as “limited government, conservative fiscal policy, and accountable elected officials.” At the center of the Arkansas Tea Party movement is their President and founder Tom Cox.
Sources close to Cox have confirmed to the Tolbert Report that he is “seriously considering” running for the U.S. Senate in 2010. According to one source, this decision should be coming within the next nine to ten days. No word yet if Cox is considered running as a Republican or an Independent. Cox is a small business owner of Aloha Pontoons in North Little Rock.
Interestingly enough, the Arkansas Tea Party has a “Rally on the River” event scheduled for June 15, around the time Cox is set to make his decision. Could an announcement be coming at the rally? Stay tuned…
UPDATE - My source tells me that Cox is now taking steps to put together a campaign staff as he assesses whether to get in the race. My spidysence tells me to closly watch Cox’s speech at Monday night’s Rally on the River.
In addition, my source confirmed that if Cox runs it will be as a Republican not an Independent. This is significant as a strong conservative independent candidate could have spilt the conservative vote.
Tags: 2010 Candidates
June 5th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Tolbert: Tom Cox of the Arkansas Tea Party is Considering a Senate Run: Unless you have been under a roc.. http://tinyurl.com/lgvd29
June 7th, 2009 at 7:20 am
[...] Rock businessman Tom Cox, one of the organizers of the Tea Party movement in central Arkansas, is considering jumping into this race. I’ve heard the same, so add that one to your watch list as [...]
June 10th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
At the end of an interview with Dave Elswick, Tom Cox said there would be incredible announcements on Monday at the Tea Party.
June 14th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
[...] Jason Tolbert’s hunch is correct, Coleman will face a challenger in the Republican primary. Jason reports sources [...]
June 15th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Hello,
If you’re really thinking about running for U.S. Senate. I hope you learn about our US History! I’m not sure if you listened in class or not….but the Tea Party that you tried to pull off. You were making fun of our fathers of the REAL Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea party was about the citizens tired of paying taxes in the US with out representation. They were prostesting the tax that Britian was making them pay, and the taxes were not even going to them. Protest cause you dont want your taxes to be raised!!! but dont call it a Tea Party… Dude..call it something else. You make yourself look dumb!!!! Read your US History!!!! It’ll do you good!
In September and October 1773, seven ships carrying East India Company tea were sent to the colonies: four were bound for Boston, and one each for New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.[35] In the ships were more than 2,000 chests containing nearly 600,000 pounds of tea.[36] Americans learned the details of the Tea Act while the ships were en route, and opposition began to mount.[37] Whigs, sometimes calling themselves Sons of Liberty, began a campaign to raise awareness and to convince or compel the consignees to resign, in the same way that stamp distributors had been forced to resign in the 1765 Stamp Act crisis.[38]
Some claim that the protest movement that culminated with the Boston Tea Party was not a dispute about high taxes. The price of legally imported tea was actually reduced by the Tea Act of 1773. Protestors were instead concerned with a variety of other issues. The familiar “no taxation without representation” argument, along with the question of the extent of Parliament’s authority in the colonies, remained prominent.[39] Some regarded the purpose of the tax program—to make leading officials independent of colonial influence—as a dangerous infringement of colonial rights.[40] This was especially true in Massachusetts, the only colony where the Townshend program had been fully implemented.[41]
Colonial merchants, some of them smugglers, played a significant role in the protests. Because the Tea Act made legally imported tea cheaper, it threatened to put smugglers of Dutch tea out of business.[42] Legitimate tea importers who had not been named as consignees by the East India Company were also threatened with financial ruin by the Tea Act.[43] Another major concern for merchants was that the Tea Act gave the East India Company a monopoly on the tea trade, and it was feared that this government-created monopoly might be extended in the future to include other goods.[44]
South of Boston, protestors successfully compelled the tea consignees to resign. In Charleston, the consignees had been forced to resign by early December, and the unclaimed tea was seized by customs officials.[45] There were mass protest meetings in Philadelphia. Benjamin Rush urged his fellow countrymen to oppose the landing of the tea, because the cargo contained “the seeds of slavery”.[46] By early December, the Philadelphia consignees had resigned and the tea ship returned to England with its cargo.[47] The tea ship bound for New York City was delayed by bad weather; by the time it arrived, the consignees had resigned, and the ship returned to England with the tea
June 16th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Jay, Thanks for that history lesson. I personally question the ethics of Tom’s involvement with the Tea Party leading up to this announcement. It seems that he grabbed ahold of a growing and popular movement to insert himself into a senate race. There are other issues I am researching now. This candidacy probably could have been a good thing, but it is tainted by this manipulation, whether it was done with purpose or not.
June 17th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Tom cox is the last person you would want to run for senate. i’ve worked for him in the past. he is just a rich brat who inherited the company from his father who hires illegal immigrant and pretends he doesn’t know about it. under pays his his employees and doesn’t give them breaks. how can the owner of a sweatshop factory become a senator?
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
[...] Tom Cox, president of the Arkansas TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party will run in the Republican primary for the US Senate office. Is it funny? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? What we do know is that everything always starts with something, usually small enough not to be taken seriously. Certainly not every such a small thing turns out large – just a few to be more specific – but when it does it stops being funny, that’s for sure. Why not for this thing to become all but funny now? That will depend on how fed up with government robbery the people are. I think quite enough. [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[...] Tom Cox, president of the Arkansas TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party will run in the Republican primary for the US Senate office. Is it funny ? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? What we do know is that everything always starts with something, usually small enough not to be taken seriously. Certainly not every such a small thing turns out large – just a few to be more specific – but when it does it stops being funny, that’s for sure. Why not for this thing to become all but funny now? That will depend on how fed up with government robbery the people are. I think quite enough. [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 9:03 pm
[...] Tom Cox, president of the Arkansas TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party will run in the Republican primary for the US Senate office. Is it funny? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows? What we do know is that everything always starts with something, usually small enough not to be taken seriously. Certainly not every such a small thing turns out large – just a few to be more specific – but when it does it stops being funny, that’s for sure. Why not for this thing to become all but funny now? That will depend on how fed up with government robbery the people are. I think quite enough. [...]
July 1st, 2009 at 11:06 am
Being a new politician, for the first time, is a Huge Plus to me.
He is not new at being the President of groups, however. Pushing agenda’s with success.
Tom Cox has my Support and Vote. Check him out, Really!! Go for it, he is a fine husband and father, businessman and also a good friend to many.
Starting a new campaign take tons of money, he’s working his way up. Starting with a shoestring budget now and working his way up to the Top Hat.