A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(508) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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ONLY * 29 * DAYS LEFT !!!
Before the Wednesday, November 19th Petition Drive Deadline with the City/Town Clerks
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*** Promise Update ***
Tuesday, October 21, 1997
Greetings activists;
Only 29 days left to pull off our petition drive! God, I’ve never felt this tense about whether or not we’ll
succeed with getting the signatures.
Between growing public cynicism and apathy, the loss of talk radio, and perhaps even a feeling of discouragement among some volunteers after the shabby way petitions have been dealt with in the courts, this drive is faced with the very real prospect of failing by just a few signatures.
I’ll never forget that sick, sinking feeling that overwhelmed me at the end of the first term limits drive, the night before delivery was due at the Secretary of State’s office, as we added up the totals.
That’s the night when it looked like we’d be short by about a lousy thousand signatures. "What could I have done differently, what more could I have done to get those extra few signatures . . ? All that work, all that time, effort and money, all those petitioners’ hopes . . . wasted?"
Fortunately, we dug up what we needed and squeaked by with the pressure only panic provides: We found a couple hundred signatures still with the Chelsea city clerk; a few still with the Revere city clerk, etc., that they’d "misplaced." We were so desperate that I even drove up to Rockport in a ferocious ice-storm just to pick up a petition with *8* signatures that the clerk had forgotten to give to us with the rest. It was a near-death experience that I don’t *ever* want to go through again!
But we just might be approaching it, again . . . unless everyone does just a little more in the coming days and few weeks remaining.
We’re close—but close doesn’t count except in horseshoes and hand-grenades!
C’mon folks, no more near-death experiences . . . okay?
Chip Ford—
Note from Barbara: Notice, in the following State House News Service report, that there is no doubt
about the "promise". We’ve heard that the House may report out a partial rollback, to some rate above
5.5 percent, temporarily, until the economy slows down. Our legislative allies are standing by to amend
this with the Gov’s bill. My guess is that the leadership isn’t sure they won’t get it on a roll call vote, so
in fact nothing may happen this session.
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State House News Service
ROUNDUP - October 16, 1997
[ . . . ]
One of the governor’s pet proposals was tabled Tuesday morning, when the Taxation Committee put a
study order on his bill to roll back the income tax to 5 percent from 5.95 percent. The bill, filed during
Gov. Cellucci’s first 48 hours in the Corner Officer, would return the income tax to its pre-1989 level.
The tax was raised in response to a budget deficit in the late 1980s, and legislators at the time promised the hike would be temporary. At Tuesday’s hearing, Cellucci said the state’s economy is robust enough to withstand the $1.2 billion revenue loss the cut would bring.
But Democratic committee members expressed concern that the governor’s financial predictions might be too optimistic. The committee could still send the bill to the House this year, but with only one month remaining in formal sessions, the measure will likely be on hold until 1998.
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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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