HEAR THE TEA POT WHISTLE BLOWING

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom is beginning a new project called “Tea Pot Whistle.” This Tea Party project is a regular alert, calling your attention to an important upcoming political event or situation or a vote by elected officials. When you hear the tea pot whistle blowing, you will know that it is time to take action! Calling a city council member, emailing a state senator, calling into a radio talk show. Hear the tea pot whistle alert by logging onto this blog. It will be your signal to take action immediately.

HELP RECALL OMAHA MAYOR SUTTLE

NTF will have its last meeting of the year on Wed. Nov. 17, 6:30 PM at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Ln, Omaha. You can sign and circulate Recall Omaha Mayor Suttle petitions and NTF petitions to curtail illegal immigration in NE. Get a Legislative Watch Project packet that will inform you how to lobby and monitor your state senators. You can grab our latest issue papers on reform of the Comm. of Industrial Relations, ObamaCare, and the Omaha Fire Union contract. Please attend and bring friends & neighbors!

TEA PARTY TOWN HALL MEETING

The general election of 2010 is now over, and conservatives have won notable victories at the local, state, and national levels. But now is not the time to sit back and relish our victories. We must forge ahead immediately to make an impact in the upcoming legislative session in Lincoln. NE Taxpayers for Freedom will sponsor a Tea Party Town Hall Meeting on Tue. Nov. 9, 7 PM, at the Papillion, NE. City Library at 222 North Jefferson Street. We will show a Power Point presentation on how to lobby and monitor your state senators and distribute Legislative Watch Project packets that you can use to lobby and monitor votes in the 2011 session. Issues discussed will include Commission of Industrial Relations reforms, illegal immigration, and the City of Omaha “wheel fee” on neighboring communities. Please attend and bring friends & neighbors!

CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES SUPER SATURDAY

Fiscal conservatives eagerly are awaiting Tuesday, November 2, when we will have the opportunity to “take out the garbage” and elect fiscal conservatives to national, state, and local offices. Many conservative folks attend tea parties, our Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom meetings, and other similar events. However, it is not enough to sit, watch, and listen. Conservatives must become active and actually help conservative candidates campaign and win elections. Therefore, we invite conservative-minded people to attend our Nebraska Taxpayers Super Saturday, to meet and volunteer to help conservative candidates that weekend. Here is the information: Saturday, Oct. 2, 9 AM – 11 AM, 2819 South 125 Avenue #362 in Westwood Plaza on the south side of West Center Rd, Omaha, in the east-west strip mall directly south of Hooters. Free coffee, orange juice, and donuts. You can make a difference this November, but you must volunteer some time and effort.

LOBBY OMAHA CITY COUNCILMAN MULLIGAN

Oh, for the Good Old Days! The Good Old Days in District 7 on the Omaha City Council. The Good Old Days when Councilman Chuck Sigerson voted for taxpayer interests, closely scrutinizing proposed increases in taxes and spending, then voted as a fiscal conservative. Yes, those were the Good Old Days in District 7. His successor, Tom Mulligan, has voted wrong on most fiscal issues since his appointment several months ago. Now, he takes the side of the police union and pledges to vote for an overly generous contract that will necessitate higher taxes. He sides with Mayor Suttle on a wasteful budget that raises the property tax and wheel tax and implements a new restaurant, bar, and catering tax. Mulligan apparently is a Republican but appears to be a Republican In Name Only (RINO). If he votes for the police union contract and Suttle budget, we will deposit him in our NTF Rino Stockade, along with Clare Duda, the RINO Douglas County Commissioner who voted to raise our property tax rates this year. You can lobby Tom Mulligan to vote FOR taxpayers and AGAINST our liberal Mayor on these 2 issues. Call him today at: 444-5526 or email him at tmulligan@ci.omaha.ne.us. Please help us herd a RINO in the right direction!

TOWN HALL MEETING ON CITY OF OMAHA BUDGET

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom will host a Taxpayer Town Hall meeting on Monday, August 2, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at Sempeck’s Entertainment, 20902 Cumberland Drive, in Elkhorn. We will show a Power Point presentation that offers fiscally conservative alternatives to Mayor Suttle’s FY 2011 budget and informs those attending how to lobby their city council members to reject this budget and offer alternatives.

Mayor Suttle argues that we must raise and expand taxes in order to maintain the "quality of life" in Omaha. His high tax strategy will only erode our quality of life by lowering our living standards. Please come with friends & neighbors to this meeting!

Invitation to NE Taxpayers July 3 Tea Party

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom and several other organizations are sponsoring an Independence Day Tea Party on Sat. July 3, from 11 AM to 3:30 PM at Walnut Grove Park, 152nd & Q Streets, in Omaha. Featured speakers are Cong. Lee Terry, State Sen. Pete Pirsch, Omaha City Council Member Jean Stothert, and several more. Also, patriotic music and skits, drawings for books and other prizes, and face-painting and balloons for the kids. HyVee will cater lunches. Rest room facilities will be available. Please bring friends & neighbors to help us celebrate our nation’s founding and heritage!

REVISE THE CITY OF OMAHA FIRE UNION CONTRACT

Public service unions are bleeding Omaha taxpayers dry, especially with their overly generous benefits. We urge all Omaha taxpayers to lobby their city council members to stand up to the Mayor and his union supporters and rein in excess spending.

BACKGROUND POINTS. 93% of the Omaha Fire Division budget operates under a union contract, unlike other city unions, which contributes to budget overruns and unnecessary spending. The Omaha Fire Division ran $4.5 million over budget in FY 2009.
Pull much of this percentage out of the contract.

Firemen sent home daily because of overstaffing but still paid. Too many fire captains. The office of fire chief increased from 8 to 11 employees, and 3 more battalion chiefs. 70% of fire trucks have 6-7 persons on board, though the current contract calls for only 4. To handle one kitchen grease fire, 3 fire trucks, a hazmat truck, a rescue squad, and 3 battalion chiefs arrived.
Add several hours to firefighter shifts. Save $700,000 by reducing top-heavy managerial staffing of the fire division, as recommended by the Matrix Study. Begin a personnel audit of this department. There are now 45 captains on ambulances, even though the Commission of Industrial Relations (CIR) recently stated clearly that these captains are not needed on the ambulances, now costing Omaha taxpayers up to $1 million annually.

ADDITIONAL TALKING POINTS.
· The accumulation of unused sick leave, vacation days, and personal days off that contribute to cashouts that equaled about $2 million this fiscal year needs rectification.
· Paying off annual leave cost $785,386 last fiscal year, so end this benefit.
· Lower the number of annual days of vacation, which employees must use or lose each year.
· No payment for accumulated sick leave or vacation time.
· No cash payments for unused sick leave at retirement.
· Never expiring sick leave days, vacation days, personal days, and disability income must discontinue and resemble the private sector.
· Cut the number of sick leave hours.
· Current employees continue to build compensation time in future years.
· Almost $3 million in comp time banking that city employees could cash out in 2010.
· No cashing out compensation time.
· No comp time calculated at 1 ½ times actual number of overtime hours worked.
· Contracts should force union employees to cash out existing comp time upon becoming management employees.
· No banking time off for hours worked when called back.
· No cashing in time-off banked hours.
· Paid holidays only after first 6 months of employment.
· No holidays for employee birthdays or on 9-11.
· No personal leave days or “open days.”
· No longevity pay.
· No taking of hitherto untaken furloughs, if employee is back at work at full duty.
· No specialty pay for paramedics.
· No bonus pay given if sales tax revenue increases, as mentioned in current contract.
· Fire Division overtime increased 18%, so trim overtime.
· Some firefighters enjoy outside employment with accompanying salaries and benefits.
· Revise and lower base pay standards in present contracts.
· Hire a professional labor relations legal service to negotiate union contracts.

Property Valuation Town Hall Meetings

Again this year, Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom is sponsoring a series of Property Valuation Town Hall meetings. These seminars, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, are all at Millard Library, 132nd & Westwood Lane in Omaha. The dates are Tue. June 1, Tue. June 15, Tue. June 22, and Tue. June 29. We will be showing a Power Point presentation instructing you how to challenge your higher property valuation on your home or business. We will have appeal forms available. Also, you can take home paper copy packets detailing our current outrageous valuation system and suggestions for complete reform. Please attend & bring friends and neighbors! This event is free and open to the public.

Tax Day Tea Party in Omaha

Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom and several other groups will sponsor a Tax Day Tea Party on Thu. April 15, from 5:00 PM = 8:00 PM at Walnut Grove Park, 152nd & Q Streets, in Omaha. Featured speakers are Att.Gen. Jon Bruning, State Treasurer Shane Osborn, and State Sens. Pete Pirsch, Tony Fulton, and Bob Krist, who will speak on crucial tax, spending, and government regulation issues of importance to us. There will also be patriotic music and poetry, balloons, and fun for all! Taxpayer watchdog stickers and tea bags for everyone! You can purchase hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, pop, and ice cream. Please bring friends & neighbors and join us on April 15 to help take back our country and run it the way our Founding Fathers envisioned.

TEA PARTY EXPRESS COMING TO OMAHA

The Tea Party Express from California will visit Omaha on Thursday, April 1, as a guest of NE Taxpayers for Freedom and several other groups. Please bring family & friends to attend this event at Pavilion 5 at Lake Zorinsky, near the boat ramp, from 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM. Use entrance at 156th & F Streets. Guest speakers on the topics of “Voting Out the Bad Guys” and a “Campaign of One,” how to get active in upcoming candidate campaigns. Listen to good music, meet other fiscal conservatives, and just have plain fun! Bring lots of signs. We will have balloons for the kids! Fiscally irresponsible politicians in Washington and in Nebraska have failed the taxpaying citizens by their bailouts, reckless deficit spending, government takeovers in the private sector of the economy, Cap & Trade (Tax), socialist health care, and higher taxes. Taxpaying citizens are angry and frustrated. The Tea Party movement is not merely a temporary fad. We are mobilizing. Join other taxpaying citizens to take back our state and country! Volunteer to help by emailing netaxpayers@gmail.com.

Sen. "Ben-occhio" Nelson Betrays Nebraska

Nebraska taxpayers tired of his lies.
His phony explanations are drawing flies!
His lame logic really takes the prize.
His distortions of the biggest size.
To make excuses for Obama ties.

If the senator were a wee bit wise.
He’d vote NO on ObamaCare,
As we advise.

Lookin’ in the mirror after he did rise
In response to his many constituent cries.
He noticed much to his surprise
That his nose had grown to twice its size!
Ben-occhio!!