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
--------------------------------------------------------------------

ONLY * 14 * DAYS LEFT !!!
Before the Wednesday, November 19th Petition Drive Deadline with the City/Town Clerks
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Greetings activists!

Only fourteen (14) days left, a mere two weeks, and it’ll all over but for the counting.

Will we have enough signatures to make this entire three-month-plus grueling effort worthwhile?

Only *YOU* can determine that by what you’ve done and what you will do over the next fourteen days!

SUPER SATURDAY is coming up this weekend; just three days from now! This will be our final coordinated push to get those signatures that we hope will put us over the top. If you’ve been putting off getting a few (more?) signatures—your time’s almost up.

Only *YOU* can insure that we can keep the promise and roll back the "temporary" tax. We’re all depending on YOU now!

If you can help at a mall this Saturday and/or Sunday, please contact either Chip Faulkner [617-248-0022] or me [508-538-3900 or via e-mail: cltg@cltg.org], or one of the following mall coordinators.

Chip Ford—

Auburn Mall: Rep. Paul Frost (508) 832-2840
Burlington Mall: Rob Lamoureux (781) 221-7113
Cape Cod Mall (Hyannis): Dave McCoy (508) 888-7597
Dedham Mall: Bob O’Keefe (617) 367-7342
Fairfield Mall: Roy Schoonover (413) 436-5195
Greendale Mall (Worcester): David Lionett (508) 852-7342
Holyoke Mall: Phil Bator/Karen Powell (413) 783-2918
Independence Mall (Kingston): Norm Paley (781) 545-9035
Liberty Tree Mall (Danvers): Steve Epstein (978) 352-7958
Natick Mall: Eli Israel (781) 229-1331 / (781) 270-9441
Northshore Mall (Peabody): Pat Warnock (781) 631-2692
Searstown Mall (Leominster): Muriel DeLisle (508) 342-4774
Silver City Galleria (Taunton): Ann Perry (508) 995-9909
South Shore Plaza (Braintree): Anne Hilbert (781) 335-3743
Square One Mall (Saugus): Matt LeBretton (978) 977-9600
Westgate Mall (Brockton): Craig Pina (508) 559-5039

Media Notes I: See Barbara’s letter to the editor in today’s Boston Herald, a cutting response to Sunday’s op-ed column by Edward Moscovitch, "Don’t rush in to big state tax cuts." She recalls this alleged economist’s singlehanded contribution to and encouragement for the 1989 Dukakis fiscal crisis that brought on the need for the "temporary" tax we hope to roll back and he still wants to keep. [Moscovitch is the *only* state-approved consultant—at $1,000 a whack! -- to cities and towns trying to untangle the arcane education reform funding formula that he created.]

Media Notes II: Make sure you read Jeff Jacoby’s column in tomorrow’s (Thursday) Boston Globe; I think you’ll like and be inspired by it!

Media Notes III: Barbara will be taping our WCVB TV-5 editorial rebuttal tomorrow; I’ll give you the times and dates that it’ll be broadcast as soon as we have them.

Media IV: The following news release will be going out tonight to every daily newspaper, every TV station, and every talk and news radio station in Massachusetts. (Our 100 local coordinators last week were mailed a similar but personalized news release to be provided to their local and weekly newspapers, specifying their local petitioners’ locations on "Super Saturday.")

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Chip Ford (508) 538-3900
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 6, 1997

It’s "Super Saturday" for CLT&G tax rollback petition drive

Volunteer petitioners for the A Promise to Keep: 5% initiative petition will be collecting signatures at malls, supermarkets, town dumps, post offices and in front of other establishments across the state on "Super Saturday," November 8th.

The ballot committee of Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government is sponsoring an initiative petition that will end the .95 percent "temporary" increase in the state income tax rate on wages and salaries.

This "temporary" tax increase was enacted by the Legislature during the 1989 state fiscal crisis. At that time, legislative leaders promised that the increase would be only "temporary" and would expire in eighteen months.

The "temporary" tax increase was to fund the emergency bail-out bonds issued during the Dukakis administration— bonds that will be paid off in full next month.

In recent years the state has been running huge revenue surpluses. Most of this year’s $795 million surplus has been stashed in new state "savings accounts." So far, the overflowing "rainy day fund" and the additional surplus amounts to almost a billion dollars. Another huge surplus is anticipated for the present fiscal year.

Massachusetts registered voters can help the Legislature keep its promise by signing the petition, which will phase the income tax rate from 5.95 percent back down to 5 percent over three years. Promise volunteers have been collecting signatures since mid-September and will make a special effort to turn out for "Super Saturday." If 64,928 certified signatures are gathered by the November 19th deadline, the Legislature must vote by next May on whether to keep its promise.

If the Legislature again fails to keep its word, petitioners will collect additional signatures in the spring and the Promise petition will go to the voters to decide on the November ‘98 statewide ballot.

· 30 -

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at -->
cltg@cltg.org
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *