Archive for February 1st, 2013

Support AFP, especially in North Carolina!

This week, the North Carolina Chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP-North Carolina) announced its Legislative Goals for the 2013-14 legislative biennium. The Regular Session convened briefly on January 9th to adopt rules and organize the session but will reconvene on Wednesday, January 30th.

When it comes to advancing the free market agenda, no state has a better opportunity this year than North Carolina. We believe that we have a genuine opportunity to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in North Carolina with lower taxes and regulations to make government less entangling and burdensome to North Carolinians. We will aggressively promote the opportunities of cheaper energy, quality educational choices, leaner and less burdensome government, and lower taxes.

Please remember that AFP deals only with issues of economic freedom, school choice, and property rights. There are other important issues that face North Carolinians which fall outside of our mission.

We hope you will stand with us once again to promote the following goals:

• Passage of the state budget without tax increases;
• Lower overall tax burden in North Carolina;
• Support for Constitutional Spending Limits that could include: Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) that would limit government spending to the increase in population and inflation and/or legislative supermajority requirement to raise taxes;
• Keeping North Carolina as a “Right-to-work State,” by implementing it into the state constitution along with the state’s ban on public employee collective bargaining;
• Dedicating all North Carolina Education Lottery revenue to school construction; or support ending all state-run gambling;
• Elimination of North Carolina’s Estate Tax – also called the “Death Tax”;
• Promotion of legislation that allows for the exploration and production of North Carolina’s energy resources;
• Advocating a “rollback” of North Carolina’s Renewable Portfolio Standard;
• Blocking the creation of a North Carolina Healthcare Exchange;
• Allowing the purchase of health insurance from any state;
• Passage of legislation to get the state of North Carolina out of the liquor business;
• Ending all “welfare for politicians,” known as taxpayer-funded elections;
• Protecting free and political speech rights by deregulating campaign speech;
• Ending the Golden Leaf Foundation;
• Converting the Tax Credit for Children with Disabilities into a refundable tax credit;
• Increasing the number of non-public school choice options available to parents;
• Repeal of the corporate income tax and elimination of all corporate welfare;
• Simplifying and lowering individual income taxes;
• Promoting the elimination of redundant committees and commissions in order to shrink the size of government in North Carolina;
• Expanding recently passed tort reforms, including “loser pays”; and
• In general, greatly reducing the regulatory burden on businesses and citizens.

Tami Fitzgerald

On behalf of everyone that makes up the North Carolina Values Coalition and the 61% of North Carolina voters who voted for the Marriage Amendment last May, the North Carolina Values Coalition has filed an Amicus Brief with the United States Supreme Court to defend North Carolina’s definition of marriage.

California’s marriage amendment and the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) will go before the Supreme Court this Spring, and experts speculate these cases could be the deciding opinion on marriage and the ability of government to redefine marriage.

By Susan Bryant, Chairman, Wake County Republican Party

It’s Tax filing time, and when you file your IRS and North Carolina Tax returns, I am asking that you DO NOT check off the box that sends public funds to political parties!

From the time it began in the 1970’s, I have been opposed to public financing of political campaigns.  This includes the years I made my living as a campaign consultant, and could therefore have pocketed some of the money involved myself.  I consider my position one of the most selfless and altruistic I have ever espoused.  But seriously, why should taxpayers’ money go to pay for politicians’ bumper strips when we are running up trillions of dollars of debt?

So I’ve been against all public financing schemes, the Presidential check-off, the many various proposals for financing Congressional campaigns that have been floated over the year, and, yes, the North Carolina check-off law, too.  Now that we have a Republican legislature, I think elimination of the Political Parties Financing Fund ought to be a major part of the campaign reform bill they pass, along with Voter ID and a number of other changes that are needed.

Not all of the reports have been filed yet, but last year, more than $2 million was doled out by the state to the three recognized political parties, with by far the largest share going to the Democrats, who got over a million and a half.  Some of the Democrat money (as Francis DeLuca pointed out in a Civitas Review article last April,) went to pay for the settlement the Dems paid to cover up the allegation of sexual harassment.

Doing away with the check-off fund would also make it unnecessary for Republicans to wrestle with the choice between honor and political expediency.  Assuming they don’t get it repealed in time for the 2012 tax returns we’re all dealing with now, I will decline to say yes to wasteful spending again, hopefully for the last time, at least at our state level.  I hope you will, too.

Democrats argue that public financing will cut down on political clout by fat cats and other special interests, but doesn’t that go against their basic philosophy of “soak the rich?”  When they check the box, they are taking $3 out of the funds that would otherwise go to education, mental health and other worthy causes in the state budgets and give it to the politicians.  How did that ever get to be the policy of the party of the “little guy,” anyway?

I don’t believe those precious dollars should go to politicians, but rather should go to the education of our children, homeless veterans and other worthy causes.  And I encourage all who want to contribute to a political party to do so…and for you Republicans, I’m including a link to do so for either the North Carolina GOP or the Wake County GOP.