The Champaign Tea Party held a Tax Day rally at Westside Park on Thursday to promote the conservative views the organization hopes to spread locally and beyond.

Frank Barham, Champaign Tea Party chair, said rallies are important for getting the word out about the Tea Party and its goals.

“People are hungry for information about what the Tea Party movement is doing to promote conservative values throughout the country,” he said.

Barham added that fiscal transparency, political accountability and reducing spending are part of the group’s platform.

The Tea Party is a nationwide movement formed after Tax Day rallies in 2009 drew interest. Karen Olsen, the Champaign branch’s secretary-treasurer, said rallies offer citizens the opportunity to express themselves while learning about the party.

“We’ve had an outpouring at the demonstrations from people wanting to show their patriotism,” Olsen said.

Meanwhile, a competing group called the Counter Tea Party Protest, was present at the rally to inform the community about alternatives to the messages of the Champaign Tax Day Tea Party.

David Amerson, the group’s organizer and graduate student, was one of several University students who debated with the Tea Party activists at Westside Park for the first half of the rally.

Amerson said while he hopes others across the nation will protest the Tea Party, he’s not aware of a larger backlash, nor is he interested in getting one started.

“I don’t expect this (protest) to have any ripples past here. You act locally and you think globally,” Amerson said. “It’s just hard for me to sit back and let these people get this message across in the public square and not have someone there to just ask why.”

While the Tea Party is a long-term initiative with conservative views, Barham said it is important that it is not characterized as another governmental third-party.

“We’re not interested in becoming a political party,” he said. “We want the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to adopt our conservative values and turn the government back to the people.”

Olsen said being politically nonaligned is critical to the Tea Party’s goal of educating the public, especially when bringing in experts to speak at rallies and monthly meetings.

“We’re trying to bring conservative facts to people in the area on current issues,” she said. “We’re trying to get people who are knowledgeable about certain topics to come in and speak. Being nonpartisan, we don’t care if that person’s a Democrat, or a Republican or a Libertarian, as long as they have the knowledge that people need to make a good decision about the issues.”

Barham said the Tea Party will continue its rallies and meetings until its goals are met.

“We’ll be active until we get politicians in Washington and state governments to listen to the people,” he said. “The silent majority is finding out that they do have power, when they assimilate, to make their opinions known.”