Senator Ben-occhio Nelson of Nebraska

BEN-OCCHIO WATCH:
MAKE SURE HE HEARS FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS.

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom has begun a “Ben-occhio Watch” statewide project in response to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson’s endorsement and votes for socialist ObamaCare and other leftwing legislation. The objectives of this project are as follows: 1) to expose his liberal voting record on fiscal and regulatory issues though he tries to posture himself as a fiscal conservative to his Nebraska constituents; 2) continue a steady stream of critical commentary against his votes
by calling talk radio, writing guest editorials, and making the senator a frequent “guest” at our taxpayer tea parties; 3) confront him at public forums to ask him why he votes contrary to the wishes of Nebraskans; and 4) scour the state for a formidable challenger in the 2012 Nebraska senatorial election.

This project packet includes the following materials:
Directions to access his annual voting record on the NE Taxpayers for Freedom website.
Instructions on how to call talk radio shows.
Outline on how to write guest editorials.
Contact sheets for Nebraska TV and radio stations and newspapers.
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NEBRASKA TAXPAYERS FOR FREEDOM
P.O. Box 6452
Omaha, NE. 68106
Email: netaxpayers@cox.net

STREET NAMES TO HONOR OMAHA MAYORS

Democrat cheerleaders for former Mayor Mike Fahey are whipping up support to rename 7 blocks of Webster Street adjacent to the new baseball stadium for this mayor. Meanwhile, Republican boosters are hawking a proposed ordinance to rename another downtown street, perhaps in front of the Qwest Center, for former Mayor Hal Daub. Many Omaha taxpayers would question the idea of honoring former Mayor Fahey in this way. Recall that he is responsible for the horrific “spiking” of police and fire pensions by backloading huge pay raises and retirement benefits to a time when he would have left office. Property taxes will skyrocket to pay for these millions in future obligations. Omaha taxpayers undoubtedly will pay dearly in property tax hikes to manage and operate the unneeded, new baseball stadium, a monument that Fahey has bestowed upon himself like a Roman emperor. Also recall that former Mayor Daub granted too generous pay and benefit raises to the police union. Remember his assuring us that property taxes would not rise to pay for this monument to himself, the convention center and arena. 41% of your recent 10% property tax hike will fund the debt service, principal plus interest, of this complex. The Omaha city council will vote on Tuesday, Nov. 10, on these street renamings. Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom urges taxpayers to contact their city council members and urge them to do the following: 1) name an Omaha alley after Mayor Fahey, an alley filled with deep ruts and holes, like the ruts in which he left Omaha taxpayers. An alley strewn with loose garbage, just like he treated us taxpayers. 2) name all the street curbs surrounding the Qwest Center for former Mayor Hal Daub, because he kicked us taxpayers to the curb with his debt yoke from this facility.

JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST OMAHA TAX HIKES!

Omaha taxpayers, frustrated and angry, tell me that their Omaha city council members and Mayor listen to what they say but do not abide by their wishes to NOT raise taxes. Truthfully, only City Councilmen Chuck Sigerson and Garry Gernandt acknowledged the 2,500+ petition signatures we submitted from citizens opposing tax hikes and our list of over 70 suggestions for budget cuts. That 4 city councilmen voted to raise our property taxes 10% during this recession, as citizens are losing their jobs, working fewer hours, and depleting their savings, is unconscionable. No council member has taken the initiative to systematically reform the budgeting process, while other metropolitan cities already have adopted many of our budgeting suggestions. It is not sufficient to direct anger and frustration against public officials who fail to heed constituent concerns. We must channel our feelings, translate them into actual Taxpayer Tea Party enthusiasm, into positive and productive action. Time to lobby our Mayor and council to 1) change the city charter to make it easier to avoid tax increases and to cut spending; 2) urge them to work with us to actually make short-range and long-range strategic budget cuts; and 3) use suggestions from the Matrix study and Behrens-Tate study to better manage city financing and operations. The city council so far has proved impervious to our suggestions, so we must apply pressure. We are creating Committees of Correspondence in each city council district, like our colonial forefathers created them in their neighborhoods to fight and thwart burdensome taxes yoked onto them by the British Crown. Each district committee will have a team leader to coordinate activities, including email, phone, and fax campaigns to lobby city council members and Mayor. Our Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom website will show their voting records and their replies or lack of responses to committee members. We will organize neighborhood meetings and invite council members to come and face questions and comments from their constituents. Pictures of tea bags will go to the council to accentuate our displeasure. Our committees of correspondence can and will apply necessary pressure on council members. We will challenge them and our Mayor to implement a Back to Basics philosophy and program to rein in taxes, spending, and regulation. These officials must understand that higher taxes lower our savings and consumer spending rates, hurting businesses that consumers patronize. Lower business profits translate into lower employment, layoffs, and furloughs. Not content with raising our property taxes 10%, Mayor Suttle now wants to raise our city sales tax, burden us with a new garbage collection fee, and possibly slap us with another property tax hike! Don’t get angry; get active! Contact us at netaxpayers@cox.net to get involved today in the Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom Committees of Correspondence!

PROPERTY VALUATION TOWN HALL MEETINGS.

Our Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom group will host the first in a series of Property Valuation Town Hall meetings on Wed. Sept. 16, from 6-8 PM at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Lane in Omaha. First, we will view a short Power Point presentation showing how our current valuation system is causing rural and urban property taxes to skyrocket. Then, State Sen. Pete Pirsch will discuss his LR 241, which would urge the Legislature to study a reform of our valuation system. Next, we will distribute our own issue paper on property valuation reform. During the remainder of the meeting, those attending can each speak for up to 3 min. about their ideas and suggestions for property valuation reform. We will transcribe all these comments and forward them to the Legislative Council at the Unicameral, so that state senators can use these suggestions to help them formulate remedial legislation in 2010. We invite all concerned taxpayers to attend with friends and neighbors.

HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL MEETING

Make plans to attend our Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom Health Care Town Hall Meeting on Sat. Aug. 29, at 10 AM at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Lane, Omaha. We will treat you to a Power Point presentation on the negative impact that ObamaCare would have on Nebraskans. Two speakers from the medical community then will compare the negatives of ObamaCare with positive alternatives from the free market. Everyone attending will receive an issue paper plus contact information for their Capitol Hill delegation in Congress. Please bring friends & neighbors. It is crucial that we save Nebraska and America from socialist health care that has ruined the health care systems in so many other countries and consigned their citizens to medical care that is inefficient, untimely, and deadly. Learn how to lobby your representative and senators....the life you save may be your own or that of a loved one!

TEA PARTY AT OMAHA CITY BUDGET HEARING

It’s Taxpayer Tea Party time again, taxpayers! Mark your calendars on Tue. Aug. 11. At 6:30 PM that evening, we will hold a short demonstration outside the Omaha City-County Bldg. at 1819 Farnam Street, our signs proudly showing that we oppose any new or expanded tax increase in the City of Omaha’s FY 2009-10 budget. The mayor and city council will deliberate and decide on raising our property tax or sales tax or both. They will consider implementing a new garbage fee, occupation tax, and/or an entertainment tax. Even if you do not live within the City of Omaha city limits, you will pay more sales tax if you shop here, more entertainment tax if you go to the movies, bars, or restaurants in Omaha, and pay an occupation tax if you work in Omaha. At the public budget hearing at 7 PM, we will present the city council with our petitions opposing tax increases and testify against them in the budget. We invite taxpayers to attend the hearing and speak or just sit and listen while wearing a taxpayer watchdog tea bag sticker. However, we need YOUR help. We need YOU to help circulate our petitions. You need not be a registered voter to circulate or sign or even live in Omaha. Please call (402) 551-0921 to get a petition today! We are in a recession. People are losing their jobs, savings, and investments! We are Taxed Enough Already.

Nebraska Taxpayers July 4th Tea Party.

July 4th is a very appropriate time for a Taxpayer Tea Party! Our Founding Fathers and their colonial patriot brethren declared our colonies independent from an overtaxing and over-regulating government in 1776. More than 2 centuries later, we citizens again face an overtaxing and over-regulating government. Substitute Pres. Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi for King George III and Prime Minister Lord North. Bring friends and neighbors to attend our NE Taxpayers for Freedom Tea Party on Sat. July 4, 11 AM to 3 PM at Walnut Grove Park, 150th & Q Streets (north side) in Omaha. Bring a picnic lunch and cold soft drinks. We will treat you to live patriotic music, singers, a marching band, petitions to oppose the proposed Omaha tax hikes, and speakers. There is a playground for kids and rest room facilities. Drive north through the park to the Sun Dawgs pavilion. Lots of fun for the entire family.

PROPERTY VALUATION TOWN HALL MEETINGS

Once again, property owners in each county in Nebraska face higher property valuations on their residential and commercial properties, even though the recession has caused market value of property to decrease, in some instances substantially. According to state law, county assessors can examine sale prices of similar homes that sold during the years prior to the current recession and value a home based on not so recent sale price. Thus, a home that sold 5 yrs. ago for $250,000 might not sell for more than $215,000 now, but the valuation for a similar nearby home continues at $250,000. Counties are overvaluing homes, because special interest groups like the public education lobby depend on higher valuations to accrue more tax dollars through property tax rates. The long-range solution is to change the state law on valuations, so that they will not spike continually and cause property tax hikes, even if property tax rates remain the same. We invite everyone to attend our Property Valuation Town Hall meetings on Tuesdays, June 16, June 23, and June 30. Come to Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Lane, in Omaha at 6 PM. You can see a Power Point presentation and receive a hard copy packet, instructing you how to challenge your property valuation increases this year. Please bring your 2008 and 2009 valuation statements and pen and pad. The only way we taxpayers will stop the property valuation and tax spiral is to mobilize and fight the High Taxers and Big Spenders until we overwhelm them. See you at one of these meetings, and bring friends & neighbors!

TAXPAYER TEA PARTY II

Even before 1776, our colonial Forefathers began a mighty struggle to free themselves from oppressive taxation and crippling regulations. Indignation and determination to resist swept colonial America amid burdensome and unfair taxes and regulations imposed by the British Crown.
Our Founding Fathers, led by patriot Samuel Adams, established Committees of Correspondence throughout the colonies. The committees spread rapidly. Their purpose was to communicate swiftly political information from community to community. Then, colonists could gather and work together in many local communities, working simultaneously to fight high taxes and regulations. Riders on horseback, like many Paul Reveres, relayed news and instructions by riding for days and nights through hinterlands to distribute broadsheets, which local citizens posted on public bulletin boards in their communities.
With modern communications, we no longer need to saddle up. We can feed our fax machines, send emails, and use Facebook, Linked-In, and many other sites on the Internet to mobilize taxpayers angry at the high taxes and wasteful spending imposed and promoted by the Obama Administration and Congress.
It is 2009. The struggle begins again! Taxpayers all over Nebraska attended Taxpayer Tea Parties on April 15. We sent a clear message to the President and Congress: “Stop the Taxes! Stop the Spending and Bailouts!”
Make plans now to attend Tea Party II…..Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Ln, Omaha…..Wed. May 20, 6:30 PM.
· Short slide presentation, with packets, on fiscally conservative alternatives to fight the Obama Budget.
· Short speech by state or local official.
· Sign up on a taxpayer watchdog team to lobby your Capitol Hill delegation to vote NO on the Obama budget.
Meet fellow taxpaying citizens who are angry and disgusted by runaway government fiscal irresponsibility.

FREEDOM IS BREWING IN NEBRASKA

It’s angry taxpayer day in Nebraska! Taxpayers living in the Omaha metropolitan area will gather on Wed. April 15, 6-8 PM. at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Lane in Omaha. We will show a Power Point presentation on the Obama Bloated Budget and offer fiscally conservative alternatives. Then, we will show everyone how to lobby and monitor their Capitol Hill delegation to vote NO on this socialist budget. Also, conservative Cong. Lee Terry (2nd District) will give us a pep talk to defeat the presidential budget. Please bring friends & neighbors! Everyone will get an instructional packet and tea bag to take home. Remember, if we do not stand up to defend ourselves against leftwing tyranny, no one is going to come rescue us. The Obama Budget would add more federal debt than that amassed by every previous president. His regulatory policies will put us on the road to serfdom. His administration is intent on seizing and putting under federal control the financial industries, the vehicle manufacturers, and the health care industry. Stop this administration from placing the socialist yoke on us all. Join us at the Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom Tea Party on April 15! Note that there is another Tea Party in Omaha that day at the Douglas County Courthouse, beginning at 5 P.M.

TAXPAYER TEA PARTY FIGHTS OBAMA BUDGET.

The Socialist Pres. Obama budget would raise federal income taxes on singles earning $200,000 or more annually and on couples earning $250,000 or more annually. However, to pay for all his generous spending on pork barrel projects like $238,000 for Polynesian voyaging, Obama probably will have to raise taxes on everyone earning over $75,000. Forcing utility companies to reduce carbon emissions will raise our consumer energy costs for heating, cooling, etc. Taxes on the gas and oil industry will soar, these costs passed along to consumers. Gas pump prices will spiral. Small businesses will hurt badly, laying off employees instead of expanding, not able to afford to make capital investments. Capital gains tax rates for many will rise from 15% to 20%. Wealthier Americans who invest their capital will see their top income tax rate rise from 35% to 40%, dampening their investment enthusiasm. Retirees now see their investment income disappearing, but Obama wants to tax their investments more. The only Americans to benefit much from the Obama Budget are those who pay no taxes and do not want to work. DON’T BE SHEEPLE; BE ANGRY TAXPAYER PEOPLE! Come and bring friends to our Taxpayer Tea Party to fight the Obama Budget, 6 PM, Wed. March 18, at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Ln., Omaha. The Counter-Revolution starts now!

THE WAY THINGS STAY THE SAME.

The beginning of term limits for state senators in our Unicameral Legislature offered many conservatives a sense of euphoria. Many believed that term limits would uproot the entrenched liberal Democrats and Republicans who dominated the various committees and substitute for them an inflow of fiscal conservatives. The election of 2006 disappointed us, because so many new liberals replaced the old ones. It was tough to find good, fiscal conservatives to run for open seats. As usual, the state Republican Party concentrated on running their “machine” candidates and shunned more conservative ones. The fiscal climate in the Unicameral did not improve in 2007 and 2008. Once again, in November of 2008, we campaigned for some good conservative legislative candidates, fighting off not only Socialist Democrat rival candidates but the usual RINOS (Republicans in Name Only) hawked by the GOP Party apparatus. Sad to say, the harvest of incoming state senators provided few Low Taxers/Spenders. Recently, we asked all newly-elected state senators to sign a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” promising their respective constituents that they would not raise state taxes barring a declared statewide emergency caused by a natural disaster or other declared calamitous state or national emergency. Not one of these new senators signed it! Garbage out, garbage in! Many state senators from other states have signed an identical pledge. To further insult taxpayers, not one new state senator would agree to introduce a bill to reform structurally the entire property valuation system, to relieve overburdened urban and rural property owners.

Businesses are locating their operations in states with more competitive corporate tax and property tax structures. Their middle management people do not want to live here. Young professionals are leaving the state for states with lower taxes and better salaries. Moving in to take their places are illegal aliens who work for low wages and suck off our generous welfare system, not paying their own way. Nebraska has the highest taxes in every category except one corporate tax category, compared to all adjacent states. Our population ages. Our rural areas become increasingly depopulated. Soon we will become a pariah state for the productive….another People’s Republic of Minnesota. Unless, of course, taxpaying citizens rise off their rears and find solid, conservative candidates to run for state and local offices, then volunteer for and bankroll them.