An Orangeburg "tea party" protesting big government and excessive spending is coming to the Orangeburg County Fairgrounds on Flag Day, Sunday afternoon, June 14.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will start at 3 p.m. The party will be held rain or shine and individuals are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, flags, signs and an umbrella.

Gov. Mark Sanford, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint as well as each of the state's four Republican congressmen have been invited to attend.

Lieutenant governor candidate and Orangeburg resident Bill Connor is also scheduled to speak.

Orangeburg County Republican Party Chairman Jim Ulmer said the tea party is believed to be the only one in the state scheduled for Flag Day.

"What better place than Orangeburg to do something like this?" asked Ulmer, recognizing that the county is a Democratic Party stronghold, though, he said the issue is nonpartisan. "Throughout the country people are very upset with the way things are going on. It is not just a Republican thing. Democrats, independents, Libertarians are upset with this situation we are in."

Ulmer said the indication of the number of tea parties held on Tax Day as well as the numbers scheduled for the Fourth of July show the movement is popular and growing. The events are called tea parties as a reference to the Boston Tea Party protest before the Revolutionary War.

"It is not a fringe movement," he said. "It is a red-blooded American movement. It is a good time to rally around the flag, so to speak. We need to celebrate every opportunity we can."

The Tea Party protests are typically against President Barack Obama, his budget and, more specifically, his stimulus package, which the protesters perceive as examples of wasteful government spending and unnecessary government growth.

But Orangeburg County Democratic Party chair Betty Henderson offered her bewilderment at the news that a tea party is coming to Orangeburg.

"The Republicans are coming out to a tea party after they have bankrupted this country?" Henderson asked. "The theatrics and time for all this is over. This is not a theater. They (Republicans) have done more damage to this country until we are bankrupt."

Henderson said Obama is in the process of turning the nation around.

"Unemployment is down, the stock market is up and the economy is up," Henderson said, noting the tea party is "all rhetoric and no substance."

Henderson downplayed spending by the Obama administration as putting the country further into debt.

"Who put us in this situation?" she said. "We have to do something to dig out from what they put us into."

Connor said the movement is not about political party but about principle.

He said he goes beyond spending to focus on preservation of "constitutional liberties" such as the right to bear arms, free speech and states' rights.

"In general it is to get us back to what many see as our constitutional limitations on the federal government," Connor said. "The federal government has gotten way beyond its original constitutional role."

As to why a tea party touting smaller government would come to a Democratic stronghold, Connor said the issue goes beyond party lines with many critical of the Republican Party's direction in spending in recent years.

"We are saddling our kids with a debt they can never pay," he said, noting the stimulus or "spending" package was in many ways "jammed down" Congress' throat. "This is not what our founders intended."

The Orangeburg Flag Day tea party is the first to be held in The T&D Region.

Tea Parties were held in Columbia, Greenville and Charleston on April 15 Tax Day, joining an estimated 49 protests throughout the state and about 750 throughout the country.

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T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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