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Tea Party backer doesn't want his business mixed with politics

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 11:04 PM Thursday, August 12, 2010

DAYTON — Steve Hicks said he likes the limited government/reduced spending message of the Tea Party and has personally contributed money to it, but doesn’t want to directly involve his company in the politically controversial movement.

Hicks, who with his brother Larry owns the Dayton business A-1 Piano & Organ Movers Inc., said he got involved with the Tea Party movement at the urging of a friend.

“I like a lot of the stuff they’re doing,” Steve Hicks said Thursday, Aug. 12.

But, Hicks said, he drew the line when he was asked to have his company participate in a new, Dayton-area organization called the Tea Party Exchange, in which businesses owned by conservatives agree to grant discounts to like-minded customers, then donate 5 percent of the sale to the Tea Party to support rallies.

“I’ve not participated in any kind of discount, nor will I,” Steve Hicks said Thursday, Aug. 12. “I try to keep my politics away from my business.”

Consumers can identify themselves for the discount program by picking up Great American ID cards at participating businesses, said Washington Twp. businessman Donald Hutchinson, who established the Tea Party Exchange program two months ago and would like to expand it nationwide.

Greg McAfee, president and owner of McAfee Heating and Air Conditioning in Kettering, said he has spoken at six Tea Party public rallies since April 15, 2009. McAfee, who is participating in the program, said that, after his initial appearance in 2009, he received four letters from customers saying they would take their business elsewhere because of his politics. But he said he’s received about 75 e-mails and letters over time that applaud his stand and have boosted his stable of new customers.

“I didn’t speak to get customers,” McAfee said. “I spoke because it was on my heart and my mind about what direction I think the country ought to go in.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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