Monroe ‘tea partier’ inspired to teach others about the Constitution

Published 11:06 pm Thursday, May 20, 2010

Before Barack Obama was elected president, Julie Martinoli was out alongside U.S. 2 with an American flag and a homemade sign.

Before “tea party” jumped out of history books to become today’s sizzling political movement, this Monroe mom was a not-so-quiet champion of smaller government. “I think here I was the first tea partier,” Martinoli said Wednesday.

In October 2008, she vowed to spend two hours each day, for 25 days before the election, waving signs at traffic along U.S. 2 in Monroe. “The best time was around 3 o’clock,” she said.

Nearly two years later, Martinoli, 49, is still ardent about a cause that’s grown into a powerful influence on national politics.

With Ty Balascio, a Monroe man who works for Microsoft, Martinoli has held several free sessions to inform people about the U.S. Constitution. The programs have taken place at the Monroe Library and in a packed meeting room of a Monroe hotel.

For Martinoli, the fundamentals of the movement are small government and heeding the Constitution.

“Our rights are given to us freely by God. Rights are not given to us by the government,” she said, listing federal takeovers in the banking and car industries, the proposed environmental cap-and-trade policy, and illegal immigration as big issues fueling many Americans’ anger.

Martinoli was stirred to pound the pavement after hearing Obama’s Ohio campaign-stop comments to Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, later dubbed “Joe the plumber.” Obama told the man, in part, that “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

“That really scared me, a small-business owner,” said Martinoli, who with her husband Bill runs an interior finish business that works in commercial construction.

Her signs reflected what she saw as socialism expressed during Obama’s campaign. “I had one sign, ‘I’ll keep my wealth, you keep the change,’ ” she said.

“I think the free-market system is the best system,” Martinoli said, whether it’s in health care or other aspects of American life. “I think profit is a good thing. With profit I make from my company, I am able to share with people, give to charity. It’s a personal thing, not a government thing.”

Martinoli said she met Balascio, a 36-year-old program manager in the Windows Division at Microsoft, when he stopped to talk along U.S. 2.

“A couple years back, I picked up a book circa 1920 and read about the Constitution and the legacy of America,” Balascio said by e-mail Thursday. “The more I learned, the more I yearned to know and share with others.” Balascio views the tea party not as a formal platform of issues, but an expectation of a fiscally responsible government.

Working with the Seeds of Liberty group in Monroe and another group in Edmonds, he plans to build a curriculum and hold more sessions.

If you don’t think the tea party movement has clout, you haven’t been paying attention.

Dr. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, political novice and son of former presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, won Kentucky’s primary to become the Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat. Rand Paul had strong tea party support to overcome an established GOP candidate.

On Thursday, a Washington state tea party candidate was in the news when Sarah Palin used Twitter to give her nod of approval to Clint Didier. A former pro football player and GOP candidate from Pasco, Didier hopes to take on U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in November.

Martinoli has no ambition to seek political office. “That is not my strength. I’m helping to change my community for the better,” she said.

Parenting is her No. 1 job. Martinoli is a home-school teacher to 13-year-old daughter Marianne and son Nick, 15. Marianne is a violinist in the Seattle Youth Symphony, while Nick is active in Boy Scouts and working toward getting a pilot’s license. The family attends St. Mary of the Valley Catholic church in Monroe.

Self-reliance, Martinoli said, is a strong family value. “Self-reliance is paying down debt, planting a garden, learning how to can and dehydrate food, conserving money and tangible goods, learning skills so that we can take care of and protect ourselves and others in a time of need,” she said.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been political,” she said. “I feel hopeful, but it’s a cautious hope. It’s not going to be easy to win back the majority.”