Archive for the ‘Conservative Groups’ Category

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.

Support AFP, especially in North Carolina!

Thursday, KCC received a note from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation regarding the off-the-wall Fiscal Deficit “fix” just passed by Congress.  Perhaps many of you received it, too.  We all need to jump in together and save America from the bad economic policy.  Read on:

There they go again.

Recently Congress passed a bill to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.  But instead of focusing on the real driver of our fiscal imbalance, runaway government spending, Congress passed a bill that’s all taxes and no serious spending reductions.  The bill was filled with terrible economic policy from top to bottom.  The one bright spot is that we’re finally starting to establish some permanency in the tax code, an important element of economic stability.

Take action today and remind Congress the American people still want them to cut spending!
 
Here’s a quick rundown of the bill:

• Taxes: the bill fails to protect the economy from all the tax hikes.  Everything from capital investment, to labor, to consumption, and even death will be more heavily taxed in 2013.  None of that will spur economic growth.
• Spending: remember when both President Obama and Speaker Boehner talked about a “balanced approach?”  This bill is a classic Washington tax-and-spend bill with no spending cuts to be found.  What’s worse, it actually includes billions in new spending.
• Even while raising taxes on hardworking Americans, Congress recognized that high taxes hurt economic growth and so they handed out myriad special carve outs so their friends wouldn’t feel the bite.  Wind energy, motorsports entertainment complexes and even the hard-up Hollywood tycoons got a special tax break in the bill.

In addition to the damage these policies will do to the economy, raising taxes in a deficit fight just puts a Band-Aid on the problem.  Runaway government spending is still the main problem with the federal budget and with the nation’s economy.

Take action today and remind Congress the American people still want them to cut spending!

Thank you for all you do for economic freedom and we look forward to fighting side-by-side with you in 2013.
Best,

Americans for Prosperity

ACU Chairman Al Cardenas welcomed in the 2013 New Year with a bold statement on the latest”Fiscal Cliff” proposal:

“The American Conservative Union simply cannot accept or support the Senate Bill as passed this morning, which does nothing to reign in out of control spending. Given the dire financial situation our country faces,

ACU would have supported, albeit reluctantly, the Bush era tax cut extensions for those with incomes under $400,000 to $450,000 and supported the Death Tax provisions that maintain the current exemptions and are indexed for inflation.

This is vital for our family farms and family-owned businesses.

Our nation has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Rather than do the essential work of cutting spending, the current bill actually adds even more deficit spending. Congress needs to make the hard decisions now for the future of our children and grandchildren. Therefore, ACU recommends that the House take the non-tax provisions out of the Senate Bill and pass it. They should then go back to the drawing board and put together a comprehensive plan to responsibly deal with unemployment insurance, the Farm Bill, special interest tax subsidies and replacing the sequester with targeted spending cuts in a way that would be in line with our conservative values.”

The American Conservative Union holds CPAC, the largest national gathering of conservatives.  In the past few years, the organization has expanded into the midwest and Florida.

KCC has been to many CPAC events and enjoys being an official blogger.

With the man ABC news calls the “Godfather of the (Conservative) Movement” moving on to take the head post at the Heritage Foundation, who will take his U. S. Senate seat?  As KCC reported earlier, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint will leave that body in January to lead what many call the top conservative think tank in the nation.

Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) is the top candidate to replace Sen. Jim DeMint

It appears that popular Congressman Tim Scott, a Republican from Myrtle Beach would be the first choice of conservatives.  If you attended the North Carolina Republican Party state convention in 2011, you heard Scott speak.

South Carolina blogger Earl Capps called the situation a “feeding frenzy”. Capps also notes that Scott and fellow Congressman Mick Mulvaney have been considered in the running for the job in 2014.

According to the Washington Wire, disgraced former Governor Mark Sanford, is rumored to be interested in a comeback.  It may be hard to believe that the man who lied to his staff and family about his whereabouts, would consider a comeback.  He eventually came clean that he was having an affair with a woman in Argentina.

UPDATE :  According to Katie Pavlich, writing for Townhall’s Tipsheet,  Sen. DeMint has announced that HE wants to be replaced by Tim Scott.  She references The Hill:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has made it known in South Carolina that he wants Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) to replace him in the Senate, two state Republican sources tell The Hill.

The sources, requesting anonymity to speak candidly, say Scott is DeMint’s preference for the seat, though the final decision will be Gov. Nikki Haley’s (R). She will appoint someone to serve in DeMint’s place after he officially resigns from the Senate to take over the conservative Heritage Foundation in January. An election for the seat will then be held in 2014 for the remaining two years of the term.

TAMPA        Live,  KCC  brings you gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican National Convention.  We have what is being shown on closed circuit television inside the Tampa Bay Forum, and produced by the Republican National Committee.

This post will remain at the top of our blog throughout the convention, with other blog posts appearing beneath.  Thank you for reading KCC and we hope you get as much out of the 2012 National Convention as we are.

Between the breaks, the G.E. Smith Band plays, a bluesy-rock band formerly of Saturday Night Live, the Blues Brothers, and others.  This blogger is a huge fan and is thrilled to see them.

We are now live blogging the closing session of the American for Prosperity Foundation’s Defending the Dream Conference.  It’s their largest event of the year, attended by conservatives nationwide.  Please excuse spelling errors.

Vice President of AFPF, Alan Cobb is first up to speak.    Keep checking for updates.  Your blogger sat with his teenage children last night at the Ronald Reagan dinner and  they mentioned how much time and financial resources he donates to this cause.  He is introducing Brent Bozell, KCC’s hero, founder of the Media Reasearch Center.

Brent Bozell

His father was also a hero of this blogger, helping to start the original conservative movement right before Barry Goldwater ran for the presidency.  The number ! story in this election cycle is unemployment and the economy.  Yet ABC, CBS, and NBC didn’t report this terrible news, until they absolutely had to.  ABC still has not reported it.

Gas prices went up and only 27 stories came out.  Yet during the Bush years, four times as many gas prices stories came out.

The media also has plenty of time plenty of time for Mitt Romney and his “gaffs”.  Four years ago when Obama went overseas, the Big Three networks treated him like a GOD.  Don’t worry because new media will take them over, and we have!!!

Tim Phillips, president of AFP, is introducing the state directors.  In this blogger’s opinion, he should give Dallas Woodhouse and the North Carolina team special recognition.  We were the very first state, originally organized as Citizens for a Sound Economy.

Mark Levin is now speaking and says its Barack Obama’s birthday, to much laughter.

He says we are standing on great shoulders.  He reminded us of the one generation freedom is from extinction as Ronald Reagan said.  Abraham Lincoln said that our worst enemy comes from within.

He says things like social justice, economic equality, and such things have come into our culture.  It’s hard to believe that the President of the United States is one of the malcontents that are being created.  It’s seeping into our culture by indoctrination.  We now live in a post constitutional world, thanks to these malcontents.

He mentioned Woodrow Wilson.  He condemned Federalism and the notion of state sovereignty.  He said liberty was a privildge.  The will determine the scope of the office.  He called this “constitutional adaptation.”  I call it bull crap, said Levin.

Is there anything the Federal Government cannot regulate if it chooses to?  Levin mentioned the recent the Supreme Court ruling that said the government can regulate our physical and mental health.  It’s a post-constitutional goverment in an increasingly authoritarian society.

He mentioned that it’s Obama’s birthday today, but so what, it’s also Saturday.

No President has had more contempt for the country he leads and for the people he represents.  Mr. President, if you don’t understand the way American works, how can you fundamentally transform it?

Levin asks “since when does the money you earn belong to the government?”

Obama said if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.

Obama says it’s time for a revolution, but Levin says its time to reinstate the American Revolution!

The Obama administration has driven up our debt in four years more than $41 trillion, more than all other presidents combined.   The poor have gotten poorer.  The welfare state is growing and collapsing at the same time.

“What the hell are our kids gonna do”, asks Levin.

The challenge today is much more complicated than previous wars because the challenge is from within.

No society is guaranteed perpetual existence.   That’s why we must work for this election, next election, and in the elections beyond.   We have no choice.  This is our country and we want it back!

Standing roudy ovation.

This ends our live blogging session.  We’ll have more on this wonderful Defending the Dream Conference soon.

It’s time to work the phones, North Carolina conservatives!  This according to the North Carolina Federation of Republican Women.

According an action alert sent to members, legislative chairman  Joyce Krawiec wrote:

Our Republican led House and Senate recently passed S820 to allow for Hydraulic Fracturing in NC.  This technology would enable NC to harvest natural gas which would be a huge job creator for our state. The Governor had said she would be in favor of this legislation but now, it is expected that she will veto this legislation. We need to contact certain Legislators that we believe may be leaning to vote for overriding the Governor’s veto.

Call the Legislators below and urge them to vote to over ride Gov. Perdue’s veto.

Krawiec urged readers to telephone and e-mail the following Representatives.  She added that callers should be extremely polite and keep your message simple:

Don’t let Governor Perdue continue to block jobs and energy security in North Carolina.  Please override the veto of Senate Bill 820.

Rep. Pat  McElraft 919 733 6275 pat.mcelraft@ncleg.net

Rep. Dewey Hill 919 733 5830 dewey.hill@ncleg.net

Rep. William Brisson 919 733 5772 william.brisson@ncleg.net

Rep. Bryan Holloway 919 733 5609 bryan.holloway@ncleg.net

Rep. Tim Spear 919 715 3029 tim.spear@ncleg.net

Rep. Bill Owens 919 733 0010 bill.owens@ncleg.net

Rep. Marcus Brandon 919 733 5825 marcus.brandon@ncleg.net

Rep. Susi  Hamilton 919 733 5754 susi.hamilton@ncleg.net

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the nation’s largest advocate for economic freedom, announced today the roll-out of a significant new effort in response to the Supreme Court ruling on President Obama’s health care law.

AFP President Tim Phillips said, “While we are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court ruling, this is far from over. AFP will continue to work to defeat President (Barack) Obama’s unaffordable, irresponsible, unaccountable law that burdens the American people with a crushing new tax.”

The ad begins airing today in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin.

“Not A Tax” is just one part of a multi-tiered effort that includes online activism and significant grassroots action in over a dozen states. The total budget for this effort is $9 million.

According to North Carolina’s statewide director, Dallas Woodhouse, the North Carolina portion of the ad buy is $1 million.  ”This is a vital state in the upcoming national election” he told a group the Craven County taxpayers, meeting in New Bern on Thursday evening.

Ironically, on the final run day of “The Private Sector is Fine“, your blogger noticed that the Obama team had finally gotten on the air to dispute it.

Watch the ad below:

Join the North Carolina Americans for Prosperity as they hit the road headed for Greenville, New Bern, and Wilmington for their “Not Doing Fine” events. (See video, below.)  You may have seen President Obama declare that the private sector is “doing fine” while thousands are out of work and companies are struggling with executive branch demands, such as Obamacare.

 It’s costing companies so much that they cannot afford to hire more workers that the cycle of recession continues.  Yet, our clueless President continues to thumb his (very large) nose at the problem.

What can you do?  If you live in Eastern North Carolina, come on out to the following events and let your voice be heard.  Local TV and news papers, plus KCC and other bloggers will be on hand to record what YOU think.  Don’t miss out!

Wednesday, June 27 ”It’s Not Doing Fine” Events

AFP staffers will collect “It’s Not Doing Fine” petitions and talk with citizens about how they can fight Obama’s disastrous policies. Stop by for free food, beverages and conversation!

Greenville: 7:00-9:00 am   Rep Express Catering, 805 Red Banks Road, 27858
Talk of the Town with Henry Hinton will broadcast live on location from Rep Express.

New Bern: 5:00-6:00 pm  Captain Rattys’s Seafood and Steakhouse, 202 Middle Street, 28560
Eastern Carolina News and Views will broadcast live on location from Capt Ratty’s.

Thursday, June 28 “It’s Not Doing Fine” Events

AFP Staffers will be on hand to collect “It’s Not Doing Fine Petitions” and discuss with citizens what we can do to fight Obama’s disastrous policies. Stop by for a great food and conversation!

Wilmington: 5:30-10:30 am  Capt’n Bill’s Backyard Grill (banquet room), 4240 Market Street, 28403
Big Talker Radio with Chad Adams will broadcast live on location from Capt’n Bill’s.

New Bern: 5:00-7:00 pm  Bridgepoint Hotel, 101 Howell Street, 28562
Viewpoints with Lockwood Phillips will broadcast live on location from the hotel.

Can’t make it to the events? Sign the petition and spread the word!

Saturday, June 30 Hands Off My Health Care Rally

Raleigh: 10:00 am-3:00 pm Crabtree Valley Marriott

Sign up today for this free event today!

 Hands Off My Health Care Rally
Saturday, June 30
Crabtree Valley Marriott, 4500 Marriott Drive 27612
Free lunch and carnival food!

10:00 am  Fun activities for children and Freedom Phone banking

12:00 noon Hands Off My Health Care Rally

1:00-3:00 pm More Freedom Phone banking