FairTax.org Responds with letter to Iowans for Tax Relief

[JoshLowry]

FairTax.org Responds

Posted June 21st, 2007 by mlpyeatt (http://dailypaul.com/user/39)

I just got off the phone with John Northdurft of fairtax.org and he has reported that the Americans for Fair Tax has sent a letter to the Iowans for Tax Relief, Attn: Mr. Ed Failor stating that they believe all candidates should be invited to the Iowa Forum.

Read More... (http://dailypaul.com/node/410)
http://dailypaul.com/node/410

[angrydragon]

A missing letter perhaps?

[beermotor]

Awesome.

[Seer]

That was my suggestion. I'm wondering if this means invitations for Gravel and Mr. Cox as well?

[Seer]

Hmm, reading that now it looks more like a suggestion than a mandate.

[sunny]

who cares as long as dr. paul gets there.......he'll run em all around in circles speaking good old common sense!

[UtahApocalypse]

This is NOT a invite from the group hosting the event :(
It is simply the Americans for Fair Tax sending out a CYA letter. Now if Americans for Fair Tax were to pull out, or kick out Mr. Failure then it would be something really good.

[Warhawk]

Uh, has anyone brought this to the attention of the good folks over at the National Taxpayers Union?

Not only Paul was an opening night speaker at the National Taxpayers Conference, got second in their straw poll, and is rated highly by them every year, but if you look at this page...

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=99

The National Taxpayers Conference was co-run by, guess who, the Iowans for Tax Relief. Unless the NTU has had an abrupt change of heart in the last week, I don't think they'd be particually happy with Paul's exclusion.

Also, it would probably be a good idea to gently remind the Iowans for Tax Relief, who are saying Paul isn't 'credible', that they just were the co-organizers of an event just one week ago where Paul came in second in the event's straw poll.

[sunny]

yeah, i realize that.......but who knows what may happen........maybe eddie failure will be instructed to include dr. paul.....

[Dave]

Uh, has anyone brought this to the attention of the good folks over at the National Taxpayers Union?

Not only Paul was an opening night speaker at the National Taxpayers Conference, got second in their straw poll, and is rated highly by them every year, but if you look at this page...

http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=99

The National Taxpayers Conference was co-run by, guess who, the Iowans for Tax Relief. Unless the NTU has had an abrupt change of heart in the last week, I don't think they'd be particually happy with Paul's exclusion.

Also, it would probably be a good idea to gently remind the Iowans for Tax Relief, who are saying Paul isn't 'credible', that they just were the co-organizers of an event just one week ago where Paul came in second in the event's straw poll.

Ed Failor is on the Board of NTU.

[JoshLowry]

If Ron Paul was elected he would get rid of the Income Tax and then we wouldn't need so much tax relief.

These organizations would probably take a large hit in memberships/donations. :D

[Noodles]

:eek: The Plot Thickens!

Curiouser and curiouser.

[jj111]

Time to call the National Taxpayers' Union and ask them some tough questions about Mr. Failor being on their board.

http://www.ntu.org/main/misc.php?MiscID=14

NTU Statement of Ethics & Principles

NTU Statement of Ethics & Principles

Non-Partisanship.

This philosophy of recommending the best candidate for taxpayers, regardless of affiliation, is reinforced by NTUCF's bylaws requiring endorsement decisions to be made by a unanimous vote of its Board of Directors, which consists of two Republicans, one Democrat, and two Independents.

President
John Berthoud President ntu@ntu.org


Membership & Development
Doug Frank Vice President of Membership & Administration dfrank@ntu.org
Neha Jain Director of Information Technology njain@ntu.org


Government Affairs
Andrew Moylan Government Affairs Manager amoylan@ntu.org
Kristina Rasmussen Director of Government Affairs krasmussen@ntu.org


Media & Public Affairs
Peter J. Sepp Vice President for Communications pressguy@ntu.org
Sam Batkins Deputy Press Secretary sbatkins@ntu.org


Policy
Demian Brady Senior Policy Analyst dbrady@ntu.org
Elizabeth Terrell Policy Analyst eterrell@ntu.org
Jeff Dircksen Director of Congressional Analysis dircksen@ntu.org
John Santoliquido Policy Associate jsantoliquido@ntu.org


Special Projects
David Keating Senior Counselor ntu@ntu.org

108 North Alfred St. Alexandria VA 22314 |
Phone: 703.683.5700 |
Fax: 703.683.5722 |
E-mail: ntu@ntu.org

[Pedrique]

I just emailed their press secretary Sam Batkins.

Mr. Batkins,

I don't know if you are aware of the controversy surrounding the Iowa Forum sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance. They are intentionally excluding Congressman Paul from the forum - labelling him "not a credible candidate" for president. Given Dr. Paul's impeccable record on the issue of taxation, his supporters have been outraged by the exclusion. Ed Failor, vice president for Iowans for Tax Relief continues to stonewall the campaign and refuses to issue an invitation - even though Senator Brownback and Congressmen Hunter and Tancredo will be in attendance and were invited with similar or worse polling numbers than Congressman Paul. This seems outrageous. I would hope that your organization might be able to use some leverage to call out these two co-sponsors on their negligence.

Even if Dr. Paul is not invited there will be a rally for him outside the venue. It may be as large as the crowd inside.

Thanks for your time,
Pete

[PatriotOne]

I thought I would remind Mr. Failor that Ron Paul supporter's are interested in the outcome of his response to the Fairtax.org request.

I suggest other's do the same ;) .

Dear Mr Failor,

I am emailing to inquire what actions or non-actions are being taken by you in response to a Fairtax.org letter sent to your attention.

In brief, Fairtax.org states that it is their desire that you invite all Presidential candidates to the Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance GOP forum.

See further information here:

http://dailypaul.com/node/410

I shall follow up with a phone call tomorrow if I don't hear back from you or an update is not posted by Congressman Paul's campaign manager in the interim.

Thank you for your consideration.

[Pedrique]

And here is Mr. Batkins reply to my email:

Pete -

As you may know, Ron Paul is a very good friend of NTU's. In our
annual Rating of Congress, he has won our Taxpayers Best Friend Award
several times and has been a winner of our Taxpayers Friend Award
every year he's been in Congress. He was also a featured speaker at
our National Taxpayers Conference this past weekend. He came in 2nd
place in the straw poll we conducted at our Conference. One of our
best working relationships with a Member of Congress is with
Representative Paul and his staff.

Iowans for Tax Relief is also a very good friend of NTU's. This is
an ITR forum, and as such, the decisions on who to include (or not)
were ITR's and not ours. When we found out about their decision to
exclude Dr. Paul, we offered them our views on the matter (as many
others did, apparently). It's my understanding that ITR's decision
was made based on Mr. Paul's position in the polls, but I am not 100% positive.

Since this forum is being conducted by ITR, all I can suggest is that
you also contact them and express your views directly. Perhaps they
will also be able to clarify your questions.

Regards-

Sam Batkins
Deputy Press Secretary
National Taxpayers Union

[Noodles]

Does Mr. Batkins know that we know that Mr. Failure is on the NTU board?:mad:

[Seer]

I had to smirk when I read in your letter "Are you aware of the situation" because of course they are. If you can get their contact info, I can guarantee they're being informed.

[sunny]

done - just emailed the whole kit and kaboodle!

[LibertyCzar]

That was my suggestion. I'm wondering if this means invitations for Gravel and Mr. Cox as well?

Who is Mr. Cox? I've never heard of him.

[CJLauderdale4]

Who is Mr. Cox? I've never heard of him.

That pissed me off that Failure compared Ron to a bunch of clowns who arent even on ballots in any state! Who is credible? He probably didnt know their names until he looked them up before the interview!

[Seer]

He's some conservative businessman running for President. He tried to sue to get into the South Carolina debate. He's a nobody, don't worry.

[LibertyCzar]

If you look long enough in obscure places, I guess, you can find hundreds of guys running for president. Of course, they probably won't receive more than a hundred votes each, but I guess it's something they can say they did and be proud of.