WASHINGTON – In his first day in the nation’s capital for a weeklong orientation, U.S. Rep.-elect Bill Flores got his first taste of the tension between elements of the tea party movement and the Republican Party.

In the lead-up to the week, the Tea Party Patriots bashed a Sunday get-together organized by new GOP members and sponsored by the conservative Claremont Institute that Flores attended.

“We need you to call & e-mail these incoming Congressmen & tell them you want them to attend YOUR Tea Party Patriots event,” reads an e-mail the tea party group sent its members. “Or would you rather they attend an indoctrination organized by DC insiders and lobbyists, members of The Ruling Class?”

Republican Bill Flores, who unseated longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, puts on his coat during election night.
Duane A. Laverty / Tribune-Herald, file

The e-mail included personal contact information of new members, urging Tea Party Patriot members to make their voices heard.

The move drew Flores’ objection.

“The TPP’s tactics were inappropriate — the posting of our private cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses along with the trashing of the Claremont (Institute’s) reputation were not professional actions and they were disruptive to our individual efforts to have effective transitions into our elected offices,” Flores told Fox News Online.

New Republican members who, like Flores, were elected with the support of national and local tea party groups, face a balancing act of finding their place within their party and satisfying the demands of the anti-establishment movement that’s suspicious of the many GOP incumbents.

Flores told the Tribune-Herald on Monday that there’s been “a lot of mudslinging” regarding the dueling events, but said his choice to attend just the member-organized function came down to a scheduling conflict.

“The other event was sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots, and that actually came out later then the freshman meeting,” he said.

“It gave the freshmen a chance to get to know each other,” Flores said of the event that drew about two-thirds of the new GOP members.

He said building a rapport with these colleagues was important with votes on the party’s leadership in the House coming up today.

The Tea Party Patriots commands a large e-mail list and has adopted many of the same positions as former North Texas Rep. Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, which has denied running the tea party group.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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