As Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) founder and Advisory Board President Richard Mack continues his speaking tour in Minnesota, IREHR looks at on-the-ground organizations and individuals boosting the pro-paramilitary group’s efforts in the state.
This article briefly examines the Liberty Tea Party Patriots (LTPP) group and Mary Amlaw. The Liberty Tea Party Patriots is the host, while Amlaw is the contact for Mack’s October 5 speech and book signing in Champlin. Amlaw is also the contact for a CSPOA event on October 10 in Blaine.
Mary Amlaw and the Liberty Tea Party Patriots
Richard Mack has long been a Tea Party favorite, appearing at numerous Tea Party events in its early mobilization years.
It is little surprise, therefore, that Mack’s Minnesota speaking tour has ties to a Tea Party group. In addition to the LTPP and Mary Amlaw’s involvement in organizing Mack’s tour, the October 5 event in Champlain is slated to take place at Willie McCoy’s Restaurant, a venue long used by the Tea Party chapter.[1] Amlaw also promoted the event in the Southern Minnesota Patriots Facebook group, of which she is a member.[2]
The Liberty Tea Party Patriots and Mary Amlaw have been fixtures on the southern Minnesota far-right scene for many years. The Liberty Tea Party Patriots is an affiliate of the national Tea Party Patriots.[3]
The LTPP Facebook group was created in May 2011. Mary Amlaw and Randy B. Liebo are the current administrators of the group.[4] Liebo’s engagement with the Tea Party Patriots stretches back to at least 2011.[5] By 2014, Liebo declared on Facebook that “the grassroots for the Republicans is the Tea Party” and for recruiting someone to run against Erik Paulson and the “Republican Mains Street Politicians,” describing the latter as the “anti-Tea Party Group.”[6]
Mary Amlaw
As early as 2012, Mary Amlaw “liked” a page titled “Stop IRS from Silencing Tea Party.” By 2015, she was promoting Tea Party Patriots events and the LTPP Facebook group.[7]
In October 2018, LTPP Facebook group administration Randy Liebo gave voice to anti-Muslim bigotry and racist birtherism by circulating a meme with a quote misattributed to Clint Eastwood declaring,
“I voted against that incompetent, lying, flip-flopping, insincere, double-talking, radical socialist, terrorist excusing, bleeding heart, narcissistic, scientific and economic moron that spent eight years in the White House trying to destroy our wonderful country and turn it into Muslim loving, socialist shit hole like he came from and I don’t mean Hawaii!”[8]
Mary Amlaw’s Tea Party activism has dovetailed with her engagement with several far-right organizations. In 2019, she posted about an LTPP event with Turning Point USA, a group with its own history of racism and whose founder and President, Charlie Kirk, called for a “citizen force” at the border in the context of “decreasing white demographics.[9]
In 2019, Amlaw posted a photo of David Barton of Wallbuilders, the far-right outfit that promotes Christian nationalist versions of American history. Amlaw wrote, “Wallbuilder’s David Barton sharing information on our heritage.”[10]
Also in 2019, Mary Amlaw received a Grassroots Activist Certification from the Grassroots Leadership Academy.[11] The Grassroots Leadership Academy is a project of Americans for Prosperity, an organization that played a role in the emergence of the Tea Party movement.[12]
And Mary Amlaw’s posts on Facebook display her far-right bent. This has included material from election denier Mike Lindell, anti-Muslim bigot and white nationalism fan Laura Loomer, far-right figure Dinesh D’Souza, and the anti-Muslim Frontpage Magazine.[13]
The Tea Party Patriots also played a role in “Stop the Steal” mobilizations that pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election. The Liberty Tea Party Patriots joined such efforts, hosting a June 2022 “overview” of Dinesh D’Souza’s oft-debunked election denial video, 2000 Mules – a video also used by the CSPOA in its efforts to recruit sheriffs to the spurious “election fraud” cause.
On January 2, 2021, in the LTPP Facebook group, Amlaw circulated a flyer aimed at coordinating the participation of Minnesotans in the January 6, 2021, “March for Trump Protest Rally” in Washington D.C.[14]
[1] Liberty Tea Party Patriots monthly meeting. Event by Mary L. Amlaw and Liberty Tea Party Patriots. September 6, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/events/497993230664440/[2] Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. Posted in Southern Minnesota Patriots. October 1, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1367220840671511/posts/1377483809645214/
[3] Liberty Tea Party Patriots. About this group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/LibertyTPP. Accessed October 4, 2023.
[4] Liberty Tea Party Patriots. About this group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/LibertyTPP/. Accessed October 3, 2023.
[5] Liebo, Randy B. Facebook. March 28, 2011. https://www.facebook.com/randy.b.liebo/posts/3170914769866996:3170914769866996; Liebo, Randy B. Facebook. February 14, 2014. https://www.facebook.com/randy.b.liebo/posts/pfbid035CmVELQjBRhyzbeyUfFnEkdKVxnP5D6QWY3URDGFsxzMXATWXmHHfcMRT6iGTHR3l
[6] Liebo, Randy B. Facebook. April 6, 2014. https://www.facebook.com/randy.b.liebo/posts/pfbid02Nan5zBWhTgU797qMTr2jgCY4mLYTcfU5hgXndUB9ViKZ4ybZ4NEqD5ZiTW9FXC8Vl
[7] Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. July 25, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid02QXvJa9RDFavxLmE2Tj5T1eRj6QQ4kEVC3v6PTPG1VoxEeeiwSHjAyrxZ3qkDNPR4l; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. June 13, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0m2zxanEQw42ScMChffSxRzSzWyMNxN35WBMjwv4AVshUiLSth2aafMQq8AXQcV1sl; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. March 5, 2012. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/656147409261175:656147409261175; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. June 2, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0xKPBS3r5Ajy4gaEDwKVmS5qCQrNgErx2Gk9Y5fFvBvoURcYyisFya8ZAbNXf14pCl; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. February 24, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/1063235700368746
[8] Liebo, Randy B. Facebook. October 21, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/randy.b.liebo/posts/pfbid02kqK99saNAVxU3JoEWvku3XXhfTgXA2Qs1ifs1UyuYguNDBasXFgALVTRdA9o8rcil
[9] Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. February 7, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0ZLUTjiwrFioUdsGayvGYsEM2W4sR6TzVv3QvyBP2jVqc3xdZQcb7YvJoVxPCYWLfl
[10] Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. May 15, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3163810970311198&set=pb.100000469770375.-2207520000
[11] Amlaw, Mary. Facebook. April 4, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3064112986947664&set=pb.100000469770375.-2207520000
[12] Grassroots Leadership Academy. About. https://glatraining.org/about-us/. Accessed October 14, 2023.
[13] Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. June 21, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0fNbqaEzCmZH7KcrQ4GrE4XLkUvSukfBK8jsF3AuhMuAZV2VQWfos6DE4JUSK7QTEl; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. October 28, 2018. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid02sMisezyYQgLohKXBcf7Sd4tuC9aU6bzx7g24hBkU8uErMLkbyLc6NPPSqmQ8BR4Tl; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. June 15, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0tqTGdKLncPmfjWB19x6AE8KKnQEX82pZuZCvS6Zu47oXA1U5DdU597JwJcfrA23pl; Amlaw, Mary L. Facebook. June 15, 2019. https://www.facebook.com/mary.amlaw/posts/pfbid0zrP285MpbFLBNVNnQ5ZLzmKSMW1XjnmXBNiZx8j21LaqwG5RPmqhfLiJNvkbSzAAl
[14] Amlaw, Mary. Facebook. January 2, 2021. Flyer for “March for Trump Protest Rally January 6th 2021.” Posted in Liberty Tea Party Patriots Facebook group.
