Mark Meckler

Mark Meckler
Mark Meckler speaking at the 2011 Tea Party Patriots American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona.
Born	(1962-03-10) March 10, 1962 (age 55)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	San Diego State University McGeorge School of Law
Occupation	Political activist
Known for	Co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, founder of Citizens for Self-Governance

Mark Jay Meckler (born March 10, 1962) is an American political activist and attorney. He was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots before resigning from that group in 2012. Meckler currently serves as President of Citizens for Self-Governance. Meckler is an active proponent of a convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.

Following a call for protests from CNBC Business News editor Rick Santelli and others, Meckler and his family began promoting the idea of a Tea Party protest in Sacramento, California, on February 27, 2009. They arrived at the planned protest location with homemade signs, but without an event permit, which they had to apply for on the spot. Approximately 150 people participated, and Meckler began planning further protests, which led him to make contact with other activists in the burgeoning Tea Party movement. Meckler co-founded the Tea Party Patriots organization in March 2009, along Rob Neppell, Jenny Beth Martin and Amy Kremer. The organization became one of the largest in the Tea Party movement.

As a spokesperson for the Tea Party Patriots, Meckler was often quoted by journalists in articles about the Tea Party movement. Meckler was outspoken about the Tea Party being a grassroots movement and independent from traditional political parties. He said the movement was "neither left nor right", but consisted of "people of common sense who coalesce around the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government and free markets." He criticized the Tea Party Express organization for being too closely aligned with the Republican Party. Meckler condemned radio personality Mark Williams, then chairman of the Tea Party Express, as "vile" and "racist" after Williams made blog posts about the NAACP that were criticized as racially insensitive.