If you’re still in the dark about Americans for Prosperity and how they promote their extremist right wing agenda through sleaze and deception, here’s a good reason to wake up:
Americans for Prosperity sank to a new low last week in Virginia when they unleashed radio ads, direct mail, and a www.NoVirginiaTaxIncrease.com website attacking what they call "a 24 percent tax hike on every phone in Virginia." They claim this tax would fund "an array of benefits for a wide variety of state and local government employees." A fundraising appeal from Americans for Prosperity calls this tax "a shell game to hide what’s really a huge tax hike."
Would you call 18 cents a "HUGE" Tax Hike?
The truth is this tax adds 18 cents per month to an existing 911 fee on Virginia phone bills for disability and death benefits to families of public safety officers hurt or killed in the line of duty. That’s $2.16--two dollars and sixteen cents!--a year on a Virginia phone bill for disabled or killed police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and other uniformed first responders coming to the rescue when Virginians call 911.
The Americans for Prosperity propaganda compares Democratic state senators supporting the tax to Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Charles Ponzi, claiming...
The tax is deceiving to consumers.[NOT TRUE*]
They are led to believe they are funding 911-related services when they would really be funding an array of benefits for a wide variety of state and local government employees. [NOT TRUE*]
This is simply a shell game to take more money from Virginians for unrelated programs. [NOT TRUE*]
*NOT TRUE: The eighteen cents monthly fee goes directly to Virginia’s Line of Duty Fund for uniformed public safety officers injured or killed on the job, the very people who respond to 911 calls.
Americans for Prosperity ginned up a sparsely attended rally, providing eight free buses to the Virginia capital protesting what they repeatedly call "a 24 percent tax hike on every phone in Virginia," never mentioning that the tax is only 18 cents per month, or that the funds go directly to families of public safety officers injured or killed on the job.
It’s hard to believe Americans for Prosperity is so horribly outraged by a $2.16 per year tax on phone bills that they are willing to spend undisclosed hundreds of thousands of dollars on radio ads, direct mail, internet advertising, and eight free buses to a rally. What they do care about is an excuse to distort the truth, using hysteria to make villains of government in general and Democratic elected officials in particular.
Hiding Behind Nonprofit Status
Americans for Prosperity walks and talks like a political campaign committee, using hype and distortion to promote their right wing agenda while attacking Democrats and supporting Republicans, but unlike campaigns, PACs, or party organizations, Americans for Prosperity is not subject to federal or state disclosure laws because they are organized as a tax exempt dichotomous 501(c)3&4 nonprofit. That means contributors can give Americans for Prosperity unlimited funds with complete anonymity to bankroll TV, radio, and internet ads attacking candidates in the guise of issues advocacy.
The Virginia telecommunications industry opposes this particular tax and may be funding the campaign, but the public will never know because Americans for Prosperity hides behind their nonprofit status to avoid disclosure of their contributors and expenditures. Recently, the Baltimore County, Maryland "chapter" or Americans for Prosperity opposed the awarding of a speed camera contract to a particular vendor. Without disclosure, we have no way to find out if a rival vendor contributed to Americans for Prosperity and was behind their opposition.
- Steve Lebowitz, Annapolis
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