Tonight's Republican presidential debate in Tampa, sponsored by CNN and Tea Party Express, certifies the tea party movement's influence in the GOP. But Palm Beach County's most prominent tea partyer says the movement and the Republican Party are growing too close. Everett Wilkinson, chairman of the South Florida Tea Party, says he plans to change his voter registration this week from Republican to no party affiliation. "I'm a big believer in the tea party being independent. I think it's important that we're not a part of the Republican Party," says Wilkinson, who was once a member of Palm Beach County's Republican Executive Committee. Wilkinson's group, which says it has an email list of about 30,000, is best known for drawing large crowds to events featuring Republican speakers - including then-underdog Marco Rubio at the inaugural tea party rally in 2009; U.S. Reps. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and Allen West, R-Plantation; and Donald Trump during the billionaire's springtime flirtation with a Republican presidential run. But Wilkinson says he'd love to offer a podium to a Democratic candidate who shares the tea party's fiscal conservatism but might part with the GOP on other issues. "I think it's very important that the tea party actively recruit Democratic candidates," Wilkinson says. "Social issues are social issues. Someone else can fight that battle."
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
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