Judson Phillips, the embattled head of Tea Party Nation, the group organizing the National Tea Party Convention here in Nashville, has issued a statement in response to accusations by a former employee.

On Tuesday, Kevin Smith, former webmaster for the group, wrote a lengthy blog post charging the founder of Tea Party Nation with taking advantage of volunteer labor and creating a for-profit corporation out of what was expected by many to be a nonprofit effort. Phillips' answer to those accusations is essentially a non-answer: Between last February and the present, Tea Party Nation has seen members come and go. We have tried to deal fairly with our present and former relationships, however, not without some criticism. This criticism has been unfortunate and we believe, unwarranted.