Richmond Tea Party Demands To Be Treated Same As OWS

The Richmond, Virginia Tea Party has billed the city $10,000. In the past three years, the Tea Party has held tax day rallies in Kanawha Plaza and has paid for permits, fees, and other expenses totaling that amount. For the past two weeks Occupy Richmond has used the same space and paid nothing. The mayor and police commissioner have looked the other way in spite of that group's ordinance and code violations. It should be expected that other Tea Party groups in other cities that have had to purchase permits, pay cleaning fees, rent portable toilet and so forth will soon do the same. The courts are quite clear on this subject. A city cannot treat one group differently than another because of the message.