CHICAGO–The chairman of Tax Accountability (TAC), the political action arm of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), today issued a statement warning candidates for office that they must refrain from stating or implying they have been endorsed by Tax Accountability unless the organization specifically states that it has endorsed them.
“Candidates must return our questionnaire and our signed and dated Taxpayer Protection Pledge in order for us to consider endorsing them,” said Jim Tobin, TAC Chairman. “Not all candidates who return our questionnaire and pledge end up being endorsed by us. It is not permissible for a candidate to state or imply he or she has been endorsed by TUA if we have not issued a formal endorsement.”
Tobin referred to the January 24 Naperville edition of the Chicago Tribune that ran a story written by 42nd Dist. State Representative candidate Laura Pollastrini, featuring a picture of her signing the committee’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge
“On the basis of her answers to our questionnaire, we would not endorse Ms. Pollastrini,” said Tobin, “so the picture and article are misleading.”
“Ms. Pollastrini stated she would support tax increases on tobacco and liquor. Therefore, her responses render our Taxpayer Protection Pledge meaningless, because it states that ‘…I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.’ Candidates cannot pick and choose which tax increases they will support and expect to be endorsed by us.”
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IOWA – Taxpayers United of America has released the top pension estimates for Iowa government teachers and employees. “We are shedding light at last, on the problems with Iowa’s government pension system,” said Christina Tobin, Vice President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), and founder and President of ‘Free and Equal Elections.’ “Minimal reform has occurred in Iowa. Much more pressure is needed from taxpayers,” she said.
“Iowa’s government pension system desperately needs reform. Releasing the specific names and pension amounts would show who’s really benefitting,” said Tobin. “But Iowa refuses to release actual individual pension payments. Why won’t the Governor let Iowans see the facts?”
“There is no fair representation of taxpayers. This is a Nationwide problem that burdens the Left and Right alike, and has fueled the financial crisis facing taxpayers and retirees. The urgency of this crisis is illustrated by the extensive press coverage that our government pension reports have received throughout Iowa.”
Tobin, who toured through Iowa towns revealing top government pension estimates to the public, was covered by KGAN TV CBS 2, CBS 4 Quad Cities, The Daily Iowan, The Gazette, Eastern Iowa Government, The Republic (AP), and WHO Newsradio 1040.
TUA will be exploring all options to get the information still being withheld by the government bureaucrats of Iowa, released. “I have written letters to Governor Branstad and the members of the Iowa General Assembly, asking for transparency. As long as taxpayers foot the bill for these pensions, those payments should be available for public review.” Tobin plans to work with legislators but does not exclude the possibility of filing a lawsuit to obtain the information.
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TUA will be revealing more States’ pensions across the nation, including those of Ohio, Kansas, and Arizona in the coming weeks.
The following article from examiner.com features TUA’s lawsuit against the Riverside-Brookfield school board.
January 24, 2012. Chicago. The taxpayer watchdog group Taxpayers United of America filed suit yesterday in Cook County Circuit Court against the Riverside-Brookfield, Illinois school board. The lawsuit claims that Riverside-Brookfield administrators used money from taxpayer coffers to fund a PR campaign in favor of a tax increase that would benefit their school district. Government entities and officials are bared from using taxpayer money to promote political campaigns, including referendums.
According to Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America, “In more than thirty years of anti-tax activism in Illinois, I can say without equivocation that this has been, by far, the most shameless, open and notorious use of public resources in support of a political outcome that I have ever seen.” The political effort Tobin refers to is the April 5, 2011 ballot initiative to raise property taxes in Riverside-Brookfield to fund the school board. The campaign by administrators included television commercials and physical mailings, all paid for with taxpayer money.
In accusing the Riverside-Brookfield School District 208 of illegal electioneering, Taxpayers United is asking the court to make a declaratory judgment and impose injunctive relief and civil rights damages.
This isn’t the first legal challenge made against this very same 2011 ballot initiative in Riverside-Brookfield. In April 2011, members of the Cook County Board filed an initial suit to stop the property tax increase ballot measure. In the suit, the commissioners argued that the dollar amount used on the ballot for voter approval wasn’t the actual amount that taxes would rise. In fact, voters were being shown a tax increase much lower than the actual increase they were being asked to vote on. In addition to Riverside-Brookfield, 8 other municipalities were sued for the same tactic. Officials didn’t dispute that accusation. Instead, school board authorities argued that they didn’t need to use the actual amount.
Since the school board was well aware that they were using fraudulent tax increase numbers, the suit named each board member individually as respondents. “The taxpayers in Riverside-Brookfield should not be forced to pay for the defense of these board members who knew what they were doing was wrong but went ahead and did it anyway,” TUA Vice President Christina Tobin said at the time. In response to the deceptive tactic of using phony tax increase numbers to mask much larger increases when asking voters to approve them on ballot initiatives, the Illinois House voted 110-0 to ban the deceptive practice.
TUA decided to act after both the Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Anita Alvarez failed to take any action. For more information on Taxpayers United of America, visit their website at www.taxpayersunitedofamerica.org.
