The Arizona State Senate is considering a bill to introduce specialty license plates with the Gadsden Flag phrase turned Tea Party slogan, “Don’t Tread On Me,” with funds generated by those plates going to promote the Tea Party in ways well beyond car bumpers.
As the Arizona Daily Star noted Thursday, the state Senate is considering a bill that would create a license plate depicting the Gadsden Flag’s iconic image, a coiled snake on a yellow background, complete with the “Don’t Tread On Me” tag line. Similar specialty plates have been proposed in Virginia, Nevada, and South Carolina, while Texas has already approved creating such a license plate.
Yet what’s interesting about this particular plate is that the money generated from its sale would be used specifically to fund tea party causes.
From the Star:
What’s behind the plates is money: Of every $25 additional annual fee paid to the state, $17 goes to the benefiting organization for its own programs. In this case, a committee of five people, all of whom would have links to tea parties, would divide up the proceeds.
In fact, the bill specifically states that the money can only go toward Tea Party causes.
The bill calls for the creation of a five-member committee of people from groups who promote Tea Party ideals — one member, it states, must come from a non-profit with “a mission of bringing together, empowering and training tea party groups.” Two other members must come from groups that “[promote] the Tea Party governing principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets.”
That committee would then be tasked with distributing the money to Tea Party entities in the state that also “promote Tea Party governing principles.”
The bill is not a sure thing just yet. It must still clear a final Senate vote before it can move on to the House.
Calls to Sen. Don Shooter (R), who introduced the specialty plate amendment, and Senate President Russel Pearce (R) were not immediately returned.
