Thomas Fitzgerald: Tea-party celebrity joins Pa. Revenue Department

What's a nice tea party crusader doing in a place like this?

Ana Puig of Bucks County, a leader in the tea party movement since its earliest days in 2009, has a new job: legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue.

Intellectual whiplash!

The tea party, of course, is defined by its skepticism, if not hostility, toward big government - and particularly by its dislike of taxes. Puig not only went to work for the state, she represents the interests of the people who collect tribute to keep the beast purring.

Yet Puig was not interested in meditating Monday on the irony of her evolution, nor did she talk about a desire to change the system from within, a frequently expressed hope of revolutionaries who later join the establishment.

"I'd rather not do any stories," Puig, 41, said in a brief interview. "I'm taking a different route, for my family." She said she had not been involved with the group she cofounded, the Kitchen Table Patriots, for months.

In addition, "after four years, I'm tired of media attention."

She was hired by the Revenue Department Aug. 12 at an annual salary of $68,245, according to the state Office of Administration.

More broadly, it's hard to believe that the tea party, born amid grassroots anger over the federal bank bailouts, stimulus spending, and Obamacare, has turned four years old. In today's world of 10-minute news cycles, that is eternity.

There are fewer rallies with guys in tricorn hats waving Gadsden flags ("Don't Tread On Me") now, but the tea party has not gone away. Its adherents hold the balance of power in the House - just ask Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio). The threat of a tea party primary challenge has stiffened the spine of many a Republican officeholder on spending and taxes, for good or ill, depending on your viewpoint.

Heck, the Obama administration itself is delaying implementation of major parts of its own health-care plan, concerned about possible unintended consequences.

"Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket," wrote the social philosopher Eric Hoffer in his 1967 work The Temper of Our Time. OK, that sounds a little cynical, but the broader point works: Social movements have natural life cycles.

Activists move on, raise families, become political consultants or professional organizers, or channel their efforts into traditional political avenues such as county party committees. The outsider influences the mainstream, then becomes part of it.

Puig earned national renown as a tea party leader, fervent in warning about the dangers of collectivism. A naturalized citizen from Brazil who grew up in a conservative military family, she has called President Obama a Marxist.

In a 2009 interview with the Village Voice, Puig said Obama was advancing his health-care plan just as Hugo Chavez had taken over Venezuela, by "infiltration of the education system, political correctness, class warfare ideology, voter fraud, brainwashing through the mainstream media."

Puig, a mother of four, worked as state director of FreedomWorks, a Washington-based group that has nurtured the tea party movement, and was a member of Gov. Corbett's education transition team in 2011. With FreedomWorks, she lobbied heavily in the legislature for a school tuition-voucher bill.

"For me, it has switched from just being, 'I want to save the country in my spare time,' to 'I'm going to do this for life.' It's a commitment," Puig told The Inquirer at the time, speaking of her switch from tea party volunteer to FreedomWorks hired gun.

Don Adams, cofounder of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association, called Puig's new job with the state "a bit ironic," but added, "I wish her well."

So did Jennifer Stefano, an early tea party activist who is now state director of Americans for Prosperity and a radio talk-show host. She supports Puig in her decision but said, "It's a shame to lose such a strong voice."