The Green Tea Coalition

This kind of Strange Bedfellows coalition should happen more often.  In Georgia, the Tea Party and the Sierra Club have joined forces against a common enemy.  This coalition has successfully fought twice against corporate/government cronyism, and they’re gearing up for a third battle.

Their current fight is against a proposed new stadium in the suburbs of Atlanta.  If approved, it’ll be the new home of the Atlanta Braves, and will cost local taxpayers $300 million.  Debbie Dooley, co-chair of the Atlanta Tea Party, said:

“This is another example of the good ol' boys getting rich and the taxpayers getting the shaft.”

The Sierra Club is opposed to the new stadium since its suburban location means less access to mass transit; and that of course means more traffic and more air pollution.

Last year the two groups joined forces to defeat a ten-year sales tax increase that would have financed a huge transit project.  The Tea Party was against it because of the tax increase.  The Sierra Club was against the project itself because most of the funding would go toward highways instead of mass transit.  Working together, the two groups prevailed.

The coalition's first success was a campaign in favor of renewable energy.  Debbie Dooley of the Atlanta Tea Party explains:

In Georgia, we have one company controlling all of the electricity production, which means consumers have no say in what kind of power they must buy. A solar company could not start up and offer clean power to customers because of restrictions in state law. Our Constitution does not say that government should pick winners and losers, but that is what government is doing when it protects the interests of older technologies over clean energy that’s now available at competitive prices. I say, let the market decide.

I don't usually agree with the Tea Party, but like the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.