A PROMISE TO KEEP: 5%
A Ballot Committee of
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
PO Box 408 * Peabody, MA 01960
Phone:(617) 248-0022 /(978) 538-3900 E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org
Visit our web-page at: http://cltg.org
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*** Promise Alert! ***
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
The Petitions Have Landed!
Greetings activists!
At noon today, Chip Faulkner and I will be picking up the CLT&G / Promise petitions from the printer—they are ready and so are we! We’ll deliver the bulk of the 20,000 blank forms to our printer to have our return address printed on them, then they’ll go directly to the mailing-house, along with our "Tips for Petitioners" / Instructions booklet.
[Please . . . *please* . . . take the time to read the instructions when you get them! In *every* petition drive I’ve been involved with over the last decade, some will put in all the effort—and do the *wrong* thing (like taking a petition to work and letting people from different cities or towns sign one petition form: You must use *a* *separate* *form* for each city or town in which a voter is registered. I’m from Peabody, and if I sign a petition for Boxford my signature *will* *not* *count*! I must sign *only* a petition for Peabody.)
You can make copies of a blank form, if you need more, as long as you copy it exactly, and front and back on one sheet. If you can’t make copies and need more, call us immediately at (617) 248-0022 and we’ll put you in touch with your local coordinator, or get them right out to you. Let’s try not to waste any precious time and energy in this drive.]
They should be in the mail and on their way to everyone on our CLT&G mailing list by the end of this week. We’ll also be ordering another 10,000 blank petitions printed, as we’ll be almost out of them once we’re done with the mailing. (FYI, the total cost to accomplish all this will be about $5,000 -- if you ever wonder where your contributions go, or why we need them so badly!)
Chip Faulkner will be taking a few thousand back with him to the office today, to hand-stamp our return address then get them into the coordinators’ packages and into the mail tomorrow. (If you’ve volunteered to coordinate, watch for your package by the end of the week, so you can launch your efforts by this weekend.)
If you’re not on our mailing-list and want to receive a petition package, contact me immediately at:
This is it, folks! We’ve been working long and hard for many weeks to be ready to launch. We’re off and running, the deadline clock is ticking down, and we’re now counting on you!
Chip Ford
Co-Chairman
State House News Service
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
CELLUCCI WANTS LEGISLATURE TO "DO THE RIGHT THING" ON TAXES
SHNS.....SEPT. 15, 1997......Acting Gov. Paul Cellucci today called on the Legislature to pass an income tax cut, saying the state can afford it and if the General Court doesn’t enact the reduction, the general public will.
Standing with Republican legislative leaders and Barbara Anderson, who is shepherding a tax-cutting question toward the 1998 ballot, Cellucci reminded State House reporters the legislative leadership of the late eighties promised the tax hikes of that era would be temporary.
The state income tax was raised in separate steps to 5.95 percent from 5 percent during the fiscal crisis of 1988-91, to pay off the state’s chronic deficits.
"I say the way you really make it a temporary tax is you repeal it," Cellucci said. "That way you can say, ‘see, it really was a temporary tax.’"
Anderson, co-director of Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government, said the Legislature has until the first Wednesday in May to pass the tax reduction on its own, once her group gathers 64,928 signatures to put the question before the Legislature.
If the Legislature votes it down or does not act, the question will go before voters in November, after the tax-cutters gather another 10,821 names.
Though the Legislature will have the option not to take up the tax cut at all, Anderson urged it to do so. "It really is our preference that the Legislature go first," Anderson said. "This is not a controversial tax cut. This is a promise that they made. The crisis is over."
If and when legislators take up the tax cut, she said, voters should and would divide legislators into distinct camps:
"People with honor, who vote yes, people who vote no and have no honor" and those who prefer the Legislature not do anything with the question - or, in Anderson’s words, "People who show they have no honor and no courage."
Cellucci said estimates of first-quarter state tax revenues, due within days, will probably show better performance than expected. "If we don’t take (the extra money) off the table, state government will find a way to spend it," Cellucci said.
House Minority Leader David Peters of Charlton said getting a roll call in the House would be the
number one priority of House Republicans this fall. Senate Republican Leader Brian Lees of E.
Longmeadow said it would be foolish for the Legislature not to take up the reduction, because the
question is sure to be brought before the public next fall.
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But, there’s always a "reason" for the Beacon Hill Bandits to keep a stranglehold on *OUR*
money—even as they squander it to keep it from our grasp . . .
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The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
Cellucci targets rank-and-file on income tax cut
By Doris Sue Wong
Globe Staff
. . . Leading House and Senate Democrats remained wary, however.
"We should not have a footrace up here to see who can most quickly embrace an irresponsible tax cut," said House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran (D-Mattapan).
Besides strong revenues, Finneran said, what both the Legislature and the administration must
consider is how the state would pay for projects such as the Big Dig if Congress decides to cut federal
funding, and a proposed ballot question succeeds in dismantling all road tolls.
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You can e-mail A Promise to Keep: 5% at --> cltg@cltg.org
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