The Freedom & Prosperity Agenda for 2007

April 8, 2008, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Senator Ken Cuccinelli discussed his race to become the Commonwealth of Virginia’s next Attorney General.
  
  
• Vern McKinley outlined his strategy to claim the 10th district congressional seat currently held by Frank Wolf.
  
  
• Longtime TMG coalition member, Jeff Bowles, was recently elected chairman of the Libertarian Party of Virginia. Jeff introduced his plans for the LPVA.
  
  
• James Parmelee, chairman of the Northern Virginia Republican PAC, reviewed the recent taxpayer rally outside the Fairfax County Government Center.

March 11, 2008, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• In early 2007, the Washington State auditor contracted for a "performance audit" of the state's transportation program with a focus on "what could be done to reduce congestion in the next five years." Northern Virginia consultant Richard Mudge led the audit team, and his report was presented three weeks before the November referendum on Proposition 1, a proposal to increase taxes to fund $18 billion of transportation-related spending. That referendum was defeated, in part due to the audit's findings. Mudge discussed why a similar project should be the foundation for future discussions of, and spending for, transportation in Virginia.
  
  
• Three new staff members of Tertium Quids, the 501(c)4 sister organization of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, were introduced:
  
            Brian Gottstein, vice president of communications
            Norm Leahy, vice president of public affairs
            Krystal Slivinski, vice president of government affairs
  
  
• John Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, outlined the vision and direction of the state GOP going into 2009. (In 2009, there will be an election for all 100 House of Delegates seats.)
  
  
• Ample time was allocated for a roundtable discussion of the 2008 General Assembly session (the defeat of the Homestead Exemption constitutional amendment, the Virginia Supreme Court ruling on the embarrassing Transportation Bill, the resulting special session of the legislature, etc.)

February 13, 2008, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Delegate Jeff Frederick reported on his plans to run for chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
  
  

  Delegate Bob Marshall

• Delegate Bob Marshall updated us on his campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by John Warner.
  
  
• Delegate Ben Cline and Senator Ken Cuccinelli revealed the reasons for the defeat of the budget transparency legislation in the House and Senate, respectively.
  
  
• Senator Ralph K. Smith gave his observations on being a freshman in the Virginia Senate.
  
  
• Libby Wright, with Citizens Against Government Waste, discussed the payday lending issue, the government's desire to provide this service instead of allowing the private sector to do it, and what has been the result in those states where payday lending has been banned.
  
  
• Robert Dean, communications director of the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance, presented the case for Virginia opting out of the Federal ID program. Robert also spoke in favor of passage of the Homestead Exemption legislation before the General Assembly, which would give Virginians the opportunity to vote for this measure in a November 2008 referendum.

January 8, 2008, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Lt. Governor Bill Bolling previewed the upcoming General Assembly session.
  
  
• Paul Teller, deputy director of the U.S. House Republican Study Committee, outlined the House conservative agenda for 2008 and discussed the need for the GOP to reestablish its conservative brand.
  
  
• Andy Blom, president of Hawaiian Values.US reported on S310, The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, commonly known as the Akaka Bill. This bill, if enacted, would establish a race-based, sovereign nation in Hawaii for people with one drop of Hawaiian blood. At issue is up to 40% of the land in Hawaii, the establishment and codification of race-based preferences, serious economic and natural resource questions, as well as threats to U.S. border integrity and national security. This has implications for Virginia where several groups are vying for official recognition as Indian tribes.

December 11, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• The Honorable Thelma Drake outlined her recent activities in Congress as well as her expectations for 2008 going into the presidential election.
  
  
• Delegate Bob Marshall discussed the ongoing assault on accountability by public servants (politicians and bureaucrats) on behalf of (?) the people (Sovereigns).
  
  
• The Intercollegiate Studies Institute's recently released report, Failing Our Students, Failing America: Holding Colleges Accountable for Teaching America's History and Institutions, asks whether American higher education is doing its duty to prepare the next generation to maintain our legacy of liberty. Dr. Richard Brake, director of university stewardship for ISI, reviewed the results of the report.
  
  
• Amanda Hydro, director of policy development for the Reason Foundation, updated us on the activities of the coalition that has been formed to support the Coburn/Obama bill requiring public transparency of all grants and appropriations made by the federal government.

November 13, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• The Honorable James S. Gilmore, III updated us with his thoughts on the upcoming race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated with the retirement of John Warner.
  
  
• Senator Ken Cuccinelli shared his thoughts on what we can expect from the General Assembly given the recent election results in which the Republicans lost the majority in the state Senate and continued to lose seats in the House of Delegates.
  
  
• A panel of Robert Dean (Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance), Brian Gottstein (Tertium Quids), Paul Jost (Virginia Club for Growth), Norm Leahy (blogger extraordinaire), and John Taylor discussed the recent General Assembly race. This was followed by a Q&A and a group discussion (free-for-all) on where we go from here.

September 11, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• John Stirrup (R), supervisor in Prince William County, reviewed the county's recent steps to crack down on the influx of illegal aliens.
  
  
• Greg Letiecq, president of Help Save Manassas, discussed the activities of his organization in Prince William County as well as the future plan to build a statewide grassroots network based upon the model used in northern Virginia to focus on immigration issues.
  
  
• Paul Goldman, advisor to former Governors Mark Warner and Doug Wilder, shared his thoughts on the 2007 Omnibus Transportation Bill.
  
  
• George Landrith, president of Frontiers of Freedom, exposed how the left is using climate change/environmental stewardship arguments in an effort to seduce Christian conservatives into supporting Democrat candidates.
  
  
• Donald Tabor (L) outlined his campaign for the 14th district Senate seat currently held by Harry B. Blevins (R).
  
  
• Patrick Gleason, state coalitions manager with Americans for Tax Reform, reviewed pending legislation currently before Congress, including the effort to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and the effort to address who is subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

August 14, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Chris Evans, secretary of the Portsmouth Taxpayers Alliance, introduced the group and discussed what the fine folks in Portsmouth hope to accomplish with this newly formed organization.
  
  
• Bill Redpath, chairman of the Libertarian National Committee, discussed political competition in Virginia and the United States.

July 10, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Ronald Reagan (C) made a special appearance to remind us of first principles and also to remind us that one leader with vision, courage, and a commitment to principles can change the world. (A short DVD.)
  
  
• Alison Fraser, director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation, discussed the devastating effect federal entitlement spending is going to have on state budgets in the very near future.
  
  
• Roger Pogge updated us on his wife Brenda's (C) campaign for the 96th district House of Delegates seat being vacated by the retiring Melanie Rapp.
  
  
• Joe Blackburn (C) discussed his recent campaign for the 12th district Senate seat held by Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch (R).
  
  
• Jill Holtzman Vogel (C) updated us on her campaign for the 27th district Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Russ Potts (R).
  
  
• Craig Hudgins (I) briefed us on his campaign for the 8th district Senate seat currently held by Ken Stolle (R).
  
  
• Arin Sime (L) briefed us on his campaign for the 24th district Senate seat currently held by Emmett Hanger (R).
  
  
• Trish Stall (C) updated us on her campaign for the 1st district Senate seat currently held by Marty Williams (R), who she defeated in the Republican primary.
  
  
• Ralph Smith (C) briefed us on his campaign for the 22nd district Senate seat currently held by Brandon Bell (R), who he defeated in the Republican primary.

May 8, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Delegate Mark Cole discussed the status of the conservative movement in Virginia.
  
  
• Ron Utt, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, exposed Frank Wolf's Journey Through Hallowed Ground scheme and Peyton Knight, director of environmental & regulatory affairs at The National Center for Public Policy Research, reported on the status of that legislation.
  
  
• Gary Marx, conservative coalitions director of the Romney for President Campaign, introduced the Virginia effort.
  
  
• Bob Fitzsimmonds briefed us on his campaign for the 29th district Senate seat currently held by Chuck Colgan.
  
  
• Gerard LaBrecque outlined the eminent domain battle he is waging with the City of Staunton.
  
  
• Tim Wise, president of the Arlington County Taxpayers Association, reported on the Arlington County Board of Supervisors' decision to "go green."
  
  
• John Kwapisz, legislative director of the Virginia Council for Immigration Reform, updated us on legislation currently before Congress and gave his thoughts on what action should be taken.

April 10, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Michael Tanner, director of Health and Welfare Studies at the Cato Institute, introduced his latest book Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution. In Leviathan on the Right, Tanner outlined the rise of a new brand of conservatism - one that believes big government can be used for conservative ends. It is a conservatism that ridicules F.A. Hayek and Barry Goldwater while embracing Franklin Roosevelt. Unless conservatives return to their small-government roots, Tanner warned, the electoral defeat of 2006 was just the beginning. Everyone attending this meeting was given a hardback copy of Leviathan on the Right.
  
  
• Ron Maxwell, producer and director of the two movies Gods and Generals and Gettysburg, exposed the need for, as well as the Senator who is the main obstacle to, immigration reform in Virginia.
  
  
  
  Ron Maxwell
  
  
• Trish Stall briefed us on her campaign for the 1st district Senate seat currently held by Marty Williams.
  
  
• Ron Utt, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, gave his evaluation of the recently passed Transportation Bill. (Hint: It's not a transportation bill; it's a money bill.)
  
  
• Brian Smith, chairman of the Norfolk Tea Party II, discussed his group's truly impressive efforts to roll back property taxes in the Tidewater.
  
  
• Mary Meeks, who spoke at our December meeting about Cumberland County taking her property by eminent domain, won her court case. Her attorney was our own Joe Waldo. Initially offered $200,000 for her property by Cumberland County, she received $865,000 after going to court. Mary's story is another example of why property in Virginia must be protected by a constitutional amendment.

March 13, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Richard A. Viguerie, chairman of American Target Advertising, has been called "the funding father of the conservative movement" for his pioneering work in ideological and political direct mail. The author of the newly released Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause, Mr. Viguerie is an outspoken critic of the Republican Party's abandonment of conservative principles. But instead of sitting on the sidelines shaking his fist at the wind and whining about the present, he has a vision for the future in which the conservative movement grows and prospers in spite of party politics. Everyone who attended this meeting was given a hardback copy of Conservatives Betrayed.
  
  
• John Van Hoy outlined his campaign for the 28th district Senate seat currently held by the retiring John Chichester.
  
  
• Jill Holtzman Vogel briefed us on her race for the 27th district Senate seat currently held by the retiring Russ Potts.
  
  
• Faisal Gill updated us on his campaign for the 51st district House of Delegates seat currently held by the retiring Michèle McQuigg.
  
  
• Joe Blackburn discussed his race for the 12th district Senate seat currently held by Walter Stosch.

February 20, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• We had a round table discussion about the current General Assembly session. Were our leaders (ahem) really slashing government, cutting taxes, protecting property, and making our government schools competitive? Was traffic congestion in northern Virginia and the Tidewater truly about to be relegated to the ash heap of history? Or did these issues pale to insignificance in a commonwealth fraught with the dangers of secondhand smoke, modern musicians purloining the names of the legendary bands of yesteryear, and debates about whether we should apologize for, or merely be contrite about, slavery?
  
  
• Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner, introduced his publication and discussed journalism in the 21st century.
  
  
• David Nixon, practicing attorney in Roanoke, reviewed the ethics complaints that he filed against Senator Tommy Norment (R-Williamsburg) and Senator Ken Stolle (R-Virginia Beach).
  
  
• Charlie Judd and Shaun Kenney, executive director and communications director respectively of the Republican Party of Virginia, outlined the direction of the organization in the coming months.
  
  
• Patricia Phillips briefed us on her race for the 33rd district Senate seat currently held by Mark Herring.

January 11, 2007, Tuesday Morning Group coalition meeting

• Senator Jay O'Brien previewed the 2007 General Assembly session.
  
  
• Senator Ken Cuccinelli discussed the battle for eminent domain reform in the upcoming session of the legislature.
  
  
• Stacey Chamberlin, of the DCI Group, briefed us on what the Virginia legislature intends to do in regards to tobacco taxes in the upcoming session.
  
  
• Sandra Fabry, state government affairs manager with Americans for Tax Reform, updated us on the status of health care reform in the states as well as ATR's intention to give the Taxpayer Protection Pledge more teeth.

Fiscal Conservatives begin to
SET THE FISCAL AGENDA
for the General Assembly session in 2006!
 

THE

began its grassroots tour around Virginia on November 15, 2005 in Roanoke.
 

State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, John Taylor (president of Tertium Quids), Delegate Ben Cline, and Al Aitken (chairman of Virginians Overtaxed on Residences) presented the Agenda to 75 activists and donors assembled at the N&W Passenger Station Lobby in the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke.

As a result of the meeting, the activists are:

1)  giving their friends brochures detailing the Agenda
2)  writing letters to the editors of their local newspapers in support of the Agenda
3)  writing their state Senators and Delegates to tell them to support the Agenda
4)  and donating money to help more people hear about the Agenda across Virginia.

To set up a Freedom & Prosperity Agenda event in YOUR community,
email John Taylor at JTaylor@TertiumQuids.org
 

Photos from the event:

75 new supporters came out in Roanoke on November 15 to hear about the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda and what they could do to help get it passed in the General Assembly.

John Taylor, president of Tertium Quids, speaks to the group.

VIRGINIA CONSERVATIVES LAUNCH
“FREEDOM AND PROSPERITY AGENDA”
 

RICHMOND – Virginia's leading conservatives gathered in Richmond on April 12, 2006, to unveil the “Freedom and Prosperity Agenda,” an 11-point plan designed, in the words of Tertium Quids president John Taylor, “To protect the properties, incomes, and futures of Virginia's citizens.” 

Taylor noted,  “It took 386 years for Virginia to reach a $30 billion biennial budget. It only took the last 10 years to add another $30 billion.  The Freedom and Prosperity Agenda gives conservatives in the General Assembly and throughout the Commonwealth a game plan to restore the balance between the people and their government.” 

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, one of the Agenda's supporters, said, "We've laid out the markers with this Agenda. A lot of these planks are about trust – restoring public trust in government and holding the government accountable for the promises it makes. We know not every part of the Agenda will be passed in the next session.  But we will prevail in the end." 

Del. Scott Lingamfelter added, “I don't think it's going to be difficult to get a great deal of support in the House for these issues when they come up. I think the challenge will come from other quarters of the government.  But I think these issues are ripening, and I also think we'll see these issues gain more support in the months ahead.” 

The Freedom and Prosperity Agenda focuses on four main areas – taxes and spending, property rights, education reform, and transportation.  The Agenda's planks are as follows: 

• Eliminate the War of 1812 tax (BPOL)

• Taxpayer's Bill of Rights (TABOR)

• Eliminate the Death tax

• Eliminate the prepayment of the Sales and Use tax

• Redefine and limit the public uses for which private property may be confiscated

• Constitutional Amendment to base real estate taxes on the acquisition value of the property

• Parental choice in education

• Protect the Transportation Trust Fund with a Constitutional Amendment

• Proposals for new taxes must contain sunset provisions

• Freedom and Fiscal Accountability Act for Virginia's Public Colleges and Universities

• Eliminate the Car tax