After speaking at an event at Salt Lake Community College, a Deseret News article said Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love publicly disagreed with conservative tactics and rejected the “Tea Party”.

Love recently clarified those remarks; it seems the reporter wasn’t terribly accurate in their interpretation.

Originally titled, “Mia Love rejects tea party label, disagrees with tactics that led to shutdown,” the article was renamed, “Mia Love says, ‘I don’t believe in labels.’”

Love said she never has rejected the Tea Party. Instead, she told TheBlaze, she felt as though the reporter was using the label in an effort to box her in ideologically.

Saying the media often paint an unpalatable picture of Tea Party-aligned candidates, Love said she felt the reporter was following this approach when she asked whether Love is a member of the conservative cohort.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to allow you to put me in a box … I am a wife, I’m a mother, I’m a concerned citizen — I’m a Utahan. Label me with that,” Love said of the answer she gave.

Rather than distancing herself from traditional Tea Party values like fiscal discipline and restraint, Love said her attempt to avoid the reporter’s label had everything to do with what she believes her opponent — and the media — are trying to do.

“That (is a) label that they try to use is to discredit people like (Utah Republican Sen.) Mike Lee. (They use) it as a code sign for extreme,” Love said. “What I told her is, ‘I’m not going to allow you to label me.’”

She added, “You just cannot let them label you as being a crazy person. I have been a mayor in my city. Before I even knew about the Tea Party I was working in my city to make sure I understood the proper role of government.”

Love said Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), her future opponent should she get her party’s nomination, is using a similar tactic of making her look “way out there.” Her values, she said, remain the same and align with her vision of what the Tea Party truly stands for: fiscal responsibility.