Fired President Stays With Tea Party

Tim Ravndal, the former president of the Big Sky Tea Party Association in Montana, is still a member of the organization following a Facebook conversation in which he appeared to joke about the murder of Matthew Shepard.

According to the Associated Press, "Chairman Jim Walker tells the Independent Record that the Montana group's board met Monday to confirm Tim Ravndal's removal from his leadership post. However, a lengthier process is required to strip membership, and Walker says the board may not revisit the issue."

The board voted earlier this month to remove Ravndal from the party, but some other members protested. In regard to the Facebook posts that appeared to make light of the brutal 1998 murder of Shepard in Wyoming, Ravndal has denied that he understood any connection between his comment and the murder.