When 25 tea party groups came together in April to create the National Tea Party Federation (NTPF), their aim was to "create a unified message and media response" for the movement. But in the last week, a public eruption within the party has exposed just how difficult it is to unite a national movement when all your members belong to separate organizations.

This weekend, the NTPF expelled one group, the Tea Party Express, and its spokesman, Mark Williams, over Williams' characterization of the NAACP as racist (see The Upshot's timeline of Williams and the NAACP's back and forth here). Though the expeller and the expelled have yet to patch things up, both agree that this is simply the nature of the beast.

"There is not any single leader," Express spokesman Bryan Shroyer told The Upshot. "It's impossible to get everybody on the same page."

Most activists within the tea party movement, which generally supports fiscal conservatism and limited government, differ from members of other political parties in that they are not hoping to elect a national leader or create a national structure. These tea party activists wish to remain autonomous, beholden to no organization, and want to hold all elected officials accountable.

"[The movement's] success has been and is that it is a decentralized movement … it’s Americans speaking their minds," NTPF spokesman David Webb told The Upshot.

Yet rules and guidelines still exist. The Federation, for example, has its own set of membership rules, including one against "gross misconduct."

"We took a look at what Mark [Williams] had said and done and agreed it was outside the boundary [of the rules]" Webb explained. For that, Williams and the Express were expelled.

Webb hit back against the suggestion that he or his group is trying to co-opt the tea party movement. Webb noted that membership in the Federation is voluntary, and that the organization has a rotating steering committee instead of formal leadership.

Both Shroyer and Webb said each tea party group has its own strengths and its own mission, something that makes the tea party the tea party.

While it appears that the Express is parting ways with the Federation, it's not getting Shroyer down. "We have more members in Express than in the Tea Party Federation all together," Shroyer said.

The groups haven't stopped fighting. While Shroyer diminished the Federation's mission of unity, Webb implied that the Express is less organic, noting pointedly that it started as a political action committee and has paid staff.

Where do they go from here? Webb said he's confident the tea party's ideas will continue to fuel the movement.

kind of sounds like what is said of Christians, Republicans, Democrats and most other 'organized' groups. its interesting to observe. A USDA official just resigned over actions she took over 2 decades ago when she wasnt working as a USDA official. Im wondering if Americans are really expecting a skeleton free America, with perfect skeleton free leaders..... should be interesting to see the candidates we can find who fit that criteria

personally, if theres no indication of a 'mistake' being a regular or habitual part of someones current (last five years) life,,, it shouldnt really impact their job review,,,,,but thats just me


everyone deserves to learn and grow from and correct their mistakes(which begins with aknowledging them, which is the biggest obstacle most public figures face)

but none of us will manage to never make any

i was just reading that... even the naacp did not give her a fair shake, condemning her with getting the full story.

right, I fear Ben acted hastily to try and be equally aggressive on all sides. After coming down hard on Williams(although his 'offense' was much more current, relevant, and blatant), I guess they had to level the criticism across racial lines.

i guess honesty and politics just don't mix....kinda sad. i would want someone in office with that kind of honesty, sure she made a mistake, but she stepped up, and she did help the guy, just not as much as she would have if he was black. i give her respect, and i don't think they treated her fairly.

I concur

reading that made me think of what you were saying in the other post about the NAACP, looks like you were right again...