AFP admits its score card was a screw job
/Instead of transparency, the New Jersey affiliate of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) has tried to cover-up their "process" by shoveling more shit over it.
Instead of telling us who came up with the scheme to do away with the rating process AFP used when Steve Lonegan was in charge and which Trenton staffers AFP conspired with, they have tried to defend what is simply indefensible and inexcusable corruption. This will be made abundantly clear to them when they have to explain themselves to the Internal Revenue Service. After all, AFP is a tax exempt organization and their scorecard is meant to be educational -- not a thumb on the scale created for the purposes of party political communications in the form of direct mail, broadcast and cable advertisements, and Internet ads.
Something is clearly wrong with an organization that puts out a press release taking credit for a vote that -- in AFP's own words -- "saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which saved taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies" -- and then uses that same vote to give every Republican Senator who voted for it an "F" grade.
AFP is either psychotic or sadomasochistic.
AFP actually bragged that the passage of A-12 last October was one of its biggest "accomplishments of 2016" -- before turning around and screwing everyone who voted for AFP's biggest accomplishment of 2016!
Here is the actual email AFP sent around in advance of its 2016 "screwcard":
Americans for Prosperity-New Jersey had some big accomplishments in 2016, and it's all thanks to you and activists like you who dedicated your time to fight for freedom in the Garden State.
As we ramp up our efforts for this year's battles, I wanted to highlight last year's victories to remind you how much we can accomplish.'
What AFP-New Jersey Accomplished in 2016
Winter : Saved state taxpayers $60 million by fighting against corporate welfare and film production incentives.
Spring : Saved Morris County taxpayers $1.5 million by fighting against a union mandate initiative for big public works projects.
Summer : Saved state taxpayers $4-5 billion by fighting against a constitutional amendment that would have frozen current pension benefits as-is and prevented meaningful reforms to the system.
Fall : Saved state taxpayers $1.4 billion in tax cuts-once completely phased in-in the final omnibus bill, including a repeal of the estate tax which save taxpayers $320 million alone and will protect families from the government raiding inheritances when a loved one dies.
Playing defense: Blocked numerous legislative efforts to increase red tape in New Jersey, and defeated every attempt at increasing occupational licensing requirements that AFP-NJ engaged on.
You can see that AFP-NJ had a great 2016. It took a lot of hard work and dedication from all of our volunteers, and I sincerely thank you for your efforts to hold our government accountable and protect taxpayers.
There's no time to rest on our laurels-we must continue the fight to bring true affordability and good government back to New Jersey. Be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow on Twitter . AFP-NJ posts daily updates about developments in Trenton, Washington, D.C., and your local government.
I look forward to working with you this year to add even more to our list of accomplishments.
In Liberty,
Erica L. Jedynak
New Jersey State Director
Americans for Prosperity
This email was sent to:
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Here are just ten of the nearly 100 detailed questions regarding their screwcard that we have for the psychos/ sadomasochists at AFP:
(1) If the "Gas Tax" was the point of the exercise -- as has been suggested by bloggers, media types, Senate staffers, and AFP insiders -- then how did Republican Senator Sam Thompson get a "B" for proposing that the "gas tax" be increased without any tax cuts or tax reform at all?
(2) While handing Thompson a "B" for his gas tax increase only legislation, AFP cranked it up the buttholes of five Republican Senators who voted for that big "AFP accomplishment" of $1.4 billion in tax cuts (including the elimination of the Estate Tax) because the legislation also contained a gas tax increase. Why did Thompson get a "B" and those five GOP Senators get an "F"?
(Of course, we know why. AFP was asked to help out with Thompson's primary by members of the GOP Senate staff and AFP complied. Politics as usual.)
(3) AFP actively campaigned for the passage of Public Question 2 at the November 8th General Election last year. The debate over Question 2 was directly related to the gas tax/tax reform discussion. Somehow AFP forgot this or didn't think it important enough to include. Most probably because it would have helped the scores of those it was meant to screw.
(4) Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-13), a candidate for the Senate received an "A+" for his vote on the so-called "gas tax" (actually, the Tax Reform package that included 5 tax cuts as well as the gas tax increase), while Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-13) got an "F" for taking the exact same vote on the "gas tax."
(5) Legislation to get rid of the Estate Tax in five years that went nowhere, is marked as a positive. The legislation that actually did get rid of the Estate Tax in less than two years, is marked as a negative.
(6) Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-26) gets credit for sponsoring legislation (A-1059), while running-mate Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce gets no credit for co-sponsoring the same legislation.
(7) A bill (ACR-213) proposed by far-left Democrat John Wisniewski (D-19) which would allow voters to over-turn all of Governor Chris Christie's vetoes of anti-Second Amendment legislation passed by the Legislature was rated as a POSITIVE by AFP. Does that make AFP anti-gun? It certainly seems so. On top of this, they assigned credit or blame incorrectly. For instance, AFP credited Senator Michael Doherty even though he hadn't sponsored a Senate version (none exists).
(8) Legislation to spend millions to fund Planned Parenthood, legislation to oppose ObamaCare, legislation regarding Paid Sick Leave, and legislation to provide Welfare to Drug Dealers -- none of this was important enough to include in AFP's screwcard. On the other hand, legislation regarding interior designers, hair-braiding, music therapy, and drama therapy all were more important, according to AFP. Really? Did someone take a dump in their brain and forget to flush it?
(9) AFP is apparently hostile to legislation proposed by Senator Steve Oroho, called the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act. It appears to fly in the face of what AFP national chair David Koch calls "free trade." However, the scores of some legislators, such as Senator Tom Kean Jr., improved dramatically. Kean, who just a session ago was in the high 50 percentile range, suddenly got an "A"!
(10) Of all the hundreds of votes taken in the Legislature, AFP "counted" just nine Assembly votes and six in the Senate -- and one of those they got wrong because they cherry-picked it from a previous session. In other words, either the ass-monkey can't read a date correctly or somebody really wanted to screw someone.
Now we come to Jersey Conservative's weekly corrective to the AFP screwcard. Yes, AFP sucks large and somebody has to step in and make it right. We didn't look for this duty, but as Ronald Reagan once said: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"
One of the good things that came out of the Tax Reform package was the increase in TTF money going to fund local road and bridge maintenance. That's real property tax relief at a time when many local governments are setting their budgets and property tax rates.
A bill (S-3076) to send $400 million to county and municipal governments was passed in the Senate on March 13th. Only one Senator voted against it -- Democrat Ray "Lord of Ass" Lesniak (lifetime ACU rating ZERO). Thirty-six other Senators, from Mike Doherty to Jennifer Beck, from Steve Sweeney to Dick Codey, all voted "Yes".
Yesterday, it was voted on in the Assembly. Three voted against it. Democrat John Wisniewski (lifetime ACU rating ZERO), Erik Peterson (R-23), and Jay Webber (R-26) voted "No", while 67 voted "Yes".
We found it strange... and worth mentioning.
Stay tuned...
