Weekly Update – January 30, 2010
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Candidate ?basic training? big success. Roughly 40 people attended. Daryn Iwicki and Kent Strang of www.leadershipinstitute.org gave useful advice to everyone who wants to win an election. Our local daily newspaper gave excellent coverage on the front page of the region section. Read it at http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/n…b2d01ecdc.html. If you missed it, and want to attend a similar seminar, contact the Leadership Institute directly through their website or at (703) 247-2000. Candidate training is given often at their headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and to other groups like ours around the country. If you can put together a group of more than 20 people, why not invite the Leadership Institute to do the same for you?
2. Republican Congressman Frank LoBiondo, Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, Assemblyman Vince Polistina and John Amodeo have joined with Democrats like Jim Whelan and Ray Lesniak (booster of the Corzine toll hike scheme) to bail out the Revel Casino project of Wall Street?s Morgan Stanley. Last summer, city government in Atlantic City agreed to give $50 million to the project. Last month, it agreed to a scheme that will let the Revel avoid paying $50 million in local and COUNTY taxes. Now state politicians want to let the Revel avoid paying $300 million of STATE taxes. And they want to void the petitions of thousands of Atlantic City voters demanding voter approval of this deal according to the city?s Faulkner Act charter.
3. Liberty and Prosperity believes that all zoning and tax laws should be fair, simple, and applied equally to everyone. We believe in liberty and justice for all?not special deals for a favored few. Four casinos are already struggling to stay alive. Why should they pay full taxes, to give their competitor an advantage? If taxes are too high for the Revel, they are too high for everyone else. Why not cut government spending so every can afford their taxes? If the most powerful and influential people keep getting tax breaks, they will never work with us to cut spending. What about economic development? When the government gave special tax breaks to build new shopping centers, all we got was too many shopping centers with no customers and empty stores. Special deals also cause corrupt politics. Revel attorney Lloyd Levinson, gave big campaign money to politicians all over the state to get this big favor for his client. If this kind of pay-to-play politics bothers you, make your opinion known with a 200 to 350 word letter to the editor?or a call to talk radio!
4. Two weeks ago, I said the high yield bondholders, not taxpayers should pay off the $54 million borrowed by the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) for projects it never built as planned. Last week, Republican Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson attacked me for not opposing that debt when I was a county freeholder. But I did oppose that debt, and the old newspaper articles prove it. Read the whole truth at http://www.shoreenewstoday.com/news.php?id=6951 and www.libertyandprosperity.org.
5. News items: Last Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that for the first time, most union members in the United States are employed by the government. Today, only only 7% of people who work for private companies are in unions. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that new hires for the second shift at the Ford Motor Company assembly line in Chicago are paid a ?second tier wage? of $14 per hour under its latest deal with the UAW union. Local 54 is working in Atlantic City with a three year wage freeze? If taxpayers who don?t work for the government are earning less or the same, why are their public ?servants? entitled to 4.5% pay hikes, pensions, and benefits that make us pay more for taxes, college tuition, etc?
6. Liberty at the Movies: Street Fight will be our movie for February 10th from 6 pm to 9 pm at the Mays Landing Library. Here is the description from the creator of this documentary, Marshall Curry:
Academy Award nominated documentary, “Street Fight”, follows the bloody-knuckles race for mayor of Newark, N.J. between 32-year-old Cory Booker and four-term incumbent, Sharpe James. An urban David and Goliath story, the film chronicles the young man’s struggle against the city’s entrenched political machine, which routinely uses strong-arm tactics to hold onto power. The battle sheds light on important questions about democracy, power, poverty and race. When the mayor accuses the Ivy League-educated challenger of not being “really black,” the campaign forces voters to examine how we define race in America. Directed by Marshall Curry. For more info see www.StreetFightFilm.com.
7. We have big 4 by 8 foot signs that say: ?No Liberty = No Prosperity! www.libertyandprosperity.org 609-927-7333?. But we only have three locations. Locations must be on private property in rural areas where similar signs are permitted. We still need three more locations. Please contact me if you can help. Thanks.
8. SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS: Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Deadline for filing petitions: March 1, 2010. You need only ten signatures to get on the ballot. More info at: http://www.njsba.org/candidacy/importantdatesW.pdf.
9. REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY ELECTIONS: TUESDAY, JUNE 8, 2010. DEADLINE FOR FILING NOMINATING PETITIONS: APRIL 1, 2010. Basic info at: http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/. The following offices are up for election:
10. STRAW POLL: THURSDAY, MARCH 4: We need at least a dozen volunteers to do this right. If you haven?t done so already, please contact me if you can help in any way.
11. Why not write a 200 word letter to the editor every month discussing these issues every month?. Don?t say it all in one letter?just make a single point. Send your letter to letters@pressofac.com. Or call a 1400AM talk radio program at 609-927-1100 (The number for Pinky?s Corner from 4PM to 6 PM weekdays is 609-344-1211). Or call a 1020AM talk radio program at 609-398-1020. When you call a talk radio program, always try to make only one or two points, and have two or three ?talking points? written in front of you. If the host questions, or challenges you, defend and support the points you make, but once you have made your argument, and made your points, quit while you are ahead and thank the host for allowing you to express your views.
12. MEET PAUL MULSHINE WINE & CHEESE: Sunday, February 21 from 2:30 pm TO 4:30 pm at the Carisbrooke Inn, Little Rock Avenue Beach Block, Ventnor, NJ. Order your tickets now $75 each. $100 couple. We need this money to get on radio, billboards, and the internet. No other group does what we do. Please make the extra effort. To read Paul Mulshine?s column?s in the Star Ledger, go to http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/index.html.
“Liberty and Prosperity 1776, Inc. is a non-profit, education organization. We are registered and recognized by both the State of New Jersey and the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. Our mission is to learn and teach why ‘Liberty and Prosperity’, New Jersey’s motto since 1776, is still true and relevant today — and how Americans can again be free and effective citizens.”
MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS: Voting Members: $60 dues, Attend 3 business meetings per year, Work on one board approved project per year. Non-Voting Members: $30 per year, not attendance or volunteer requirements. 2010 DUES ARE NOW DUE TO STAY QUALIFIED FOR FEBRUARY BOARD AND BUSINESS MEETINGS!!!