NEWS RELEASE
October 26, 2004
MTF, MTA battle rages over campaigns of deception
A group funded by labor unions and Democrats plans to launch a radio advertising blitz today that skewers Governor Mitt Romney's record on taxes and job creation, just as Romney heads into the final days of his campaign to get more "reform-minded" Republicans elected to the Legislature.
Calling itself the Massachusetts Taxpayers Alliance, the organization will air a 60-second radio spot on stations throughout the state, accusing Romney of spending most of his time raising his national profile and selling his new autobiography while property taxes and job losses increase....
Stephen G. Crawford, a union media strategist and former aide to governor Michael S. Dukakis, is heading up the group. He refused to say who contributed to the organization's $50,000 ad buy, except to say that the donors are "labor unions and Democratically inclined individuals." ...
Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a watchdog group, said ... his more immediate concern is the alliance's name, which is similar to the name of his organization. "We are religiously nonpartisan, so I am troubled that the name so closely resembles ours," he said.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Ads set on Romney record
Radio spot to hit taxes, job losses
NEWS RELEASE
October 26, 2004
MTF, MTA battle rages over campaigns of deception
Two alleged taxpayers organizations today began fighting it out over a meaningless if not outright deceptive name.
We’re sure that both the so-called Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation
(MTF) and the upstart so-called Massachusetts Taxpayers Association (MTA – not to be confused with the Massachusetts Teachers Association?) would argue that they are made up of actual taxpayers, since we are all taxpayers. By this reasoning, polluters could call themselves Citizens for Clean Air, since they too breathe. Meat-eaters could call themselves Animal Lovers and Vegetarians, since they enjoy eating both.
With neither group honestly concerned with the burden of the average Massachusetts taxpayer – but both recognizing the political value of asserting that impression – a battle has begun over who best represents business-as-usual on Beacon Hill.
According to today’s Boston Globe ("Ads set on Romney record – Radio spot to hit taxes, job losses"), Michael Widmer of MTF responded: "We are religiously nonpartisan, so I am troubled that the name so closely resembles ours."
Maybe if he says "nonpartisan" enough – now even "religiously nonpartisan" – he can earn back some of the credibility he’s squandered? Saying so doesn’t make it so. In an Oct.14 editorial the Boston Herald recognized that a recent MTF report "isn’t passing the sniff test"
("Report’s timing
suspect"). The "nonpartisan" timing of its next report but a week later did little but provide further cover for those who oppose the voters’ income tax rate rollback.
How much more partisan can the new upstart group be? Such similarity of names is probably the best truth-in-advertising taxpayers have seen in a long time. At least the public won’t confuse them with the state’s largest true taxpayers organization, Citizens for Limited Taxation.
Now there’s an honest name for a group!
CLT sponsored the property tax-limiting Proposition 2˝; MTF opposed it. CLT sponsored the income tax rate rollback; MTF opposed it. Over the years MTF has supported expansion of the state sales tax; CLT has opposed such expansion, preferring the limitations the law
provides.
Instead of Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, why not call itself "Big Business for the Status Quo"? Then we’d know who they really are and few would be confused.
And the most powerful opponents of every tax limitation or reduction campaign for decades have been the unions – apparently the force behind this disingenuous upstart group.
Instead of Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, why not call itself "Special Interests United Against Reform"? Then we’d know who they really are and few would be confused.
And everyone would be happy with truth-in-advertising.
CLT is proud of its mission, proud to honestly represent average taxpayers and struggle to lighten their burden. In the latest OCPF reporting period (since Aug. 27th) CLT’s 2˝ PAC contributed $10,100 to 33 pro-taxpayer reform candidates.
Our organization’s name says it all – no smoke, no mirrors, just honesty. But if this deceptive naming succeeds, perhaps we’ll change ours to "Citizens for Mom, Apple Pie, the Flag, Peace on Earth, Warm Fuzzy Animals, and Clean Air Tomorrow or the Day After!
– 30 –
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Ads set on Romney record
Radio spot to hit taxes, job losses
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff
A group funded by labor unions and Democrats plans to launch a radio advertising blitz today that skewers Governor Mitt Romney's record on taxes and job creation, just as Romney heads into the final days of his campaign to get more "reform-minded" Republicans elected to the Legislature.
Calling itself the Massachusetts Taxpayers Alliance, the organization will air a 60-second radio spot on stations throughout the state, accusing Romney of spending most of his time raising his national profile and selling his new autobiography while property taxes and job losses increase.
"Romney's just not working," the narrator of the ad says. "Not for us."
Stephen G. Crawford, a union media strategist and former aide to governor Michael S. Dukakis, is heading up the group. He refused to say who contributed to the organization's $50,000 ad buy, except to say that the donors are "labor unions and Democratically inclined individuals."
Papers filed with the IRS yesterday described the group as "a group of individuals and organizations concerned about the ... misguided policies of Governor Mitt Romney."
The ad arrives one week before the largest group of Republican legislative candidates in a decade, many recruited by Romney, try to win seats in a campaign that Romney billed as his personal effort to "restore two-party democracy" to the Democrat-dominated Legislature.
Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom said the ad is an attempt by public employee unions, who have sparred repeatedly with the Republican governor, to paint an inaccurate picture of Romney's record after nearly two years in office to harm the chances of GOP candidates succeeding on Election Day.
"You know it's getting close to Halloween when the public employees' unions start masquerading as friends of the taxpayers," Fehrnstrom said. "The public employee unions are not interested in telling the truth to the people of Massachusetts because their real goal is to raise taxes and preserve the status quo on Beacon Hill."
Amid signs that Romney is positioning himself for a presidential run in 2008, the ad says, Massachusetts has lost 55,000 jobs since Romney the gubernatorial candidate promised to be the state's "top salesman" who would jet around the country to entice employers to relocate here.
While the 55,000 figure is technically accurate, the state has lost only 35,000 jobs since Romney took office in January 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And the latest unemployment figures indicate that the Massachusetts' jobless rate has plummeted from 6.2 percent at the time of his inauguration to 4.6 percent -- the lowest number since December 2001.
Also, the ad states that "Romney promised to keep taxes down," but that "our property taxes have jumped a billion dollars statewide."
Michael Widmer, president of the nonpartisan Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, a watchdog group, said that the $1 billion figure is "technically accurate, but highly misleading."
Widmer said two-thirds of the $1 billion in new property taxes is derived from new homes, and thus represents an expansion of the state's economy. Widmer said his more immediate concern is the alliance's name, which is similar to the name of his organization. "We are religiously nonpartisan, so I am troubled that the name so closely resembles ours," he said.
Crawford said no such similarity was intended.
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