Keli Carender wins Defender of Freedom award
Evergreen Freedom Foundation News Release
December 16, 2010
Olympia, WA—Keli Carender—also known as “Liberty Belle”—has been recognized by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation as a Defender of Freedom. The award of the same name was presented to her during Tuesday night’s Seattle dinner event featuring speaker Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports.
The Defender of Freedom award is presented from time to time by the Freedom Foundation to honor those who have done extraordinary work to advance free market principles and preserve individual liberty.
Carender, a Seattle-based blogger and teacher, is credited with organizing some of the first Tea Party protests over the 2009 stimulus package. She later developed a following that led to a large-scale Tax Day rally in downtown Seattle. Carender also started the blog Redistributing Knowledge in 2009, and is the founder and co-chair of the Seattle Sons & Daughters of Liberty.
“Keli richly deserves recognition for helping to create a movement of people who are no longer willing to blindly follow our political leaders down the path to fiscal ruin. She exemplifies a new generation of leaders who are rising up to restore individual liberty and economic freedom in our nation,” said Jonathan Bechtle, Freedom Foundation CEO and presenter of the award. “Keli has, and continues to, inspire, equip and activate thousands of Washingtonians and Americans to stand up for self-governance and fiscal common sense. I can think of no one more deserving of being called a Defender of Freedom.”
Carender is only the seventh recipient of this award in the Foundation's almost 20-year history. Past winners include Dino Rossi, Ray Hanson, Bill Larson, Lovett Peters, Joe Jackson and Bruce Crandall.