LEESBURG, VA – American Tradition Partnership Executive Director Donald Ferguson released the following statement Tuesday afternoon, after the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to adopt a motion by Supv. Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) tabling consideration of the “Chesapeake Bay” Tax and Control Plan until Commonwealth and EPA officials reach an agreement on a “Chesapeake Bay Watershed Implementation Plan.”
“Today’s vote to postpone consideration of the ‘Chesapeake Bay’ Tax and Control Plan comes after American Tradition Partnership telephoned nearly 60,000 total households, directing Loudoun citizens to contact their supervisors and voice their opposition to this tax hike and land grab. The Board’s rapid change of direction is a testament to the power of American Tradition Partnership’s effective legislative program. The Tax and Control Plan did nothing to promote water quality but did provide a teeming habitat for additional government bureaucrats.
“Burton’s proposal comes just days after American Tradition Partnership contacted nearly 4,000 households in Burton’s district, urging citizens to call Burton directly and ask him to oppose the Tax and Control Plan. American Tradition Partnership has contacted around 10,000 total households in Burton’s former, and new, district. American Tradition Partnership was one of the first and is one of the most active grassroots-supported groups fighting the Tax and Control Plan.
“It is not, however, a total victory for homeowners and taxpayers. The Board can still bring the Tax and Control Plan, or a similar radical scheme, back in the future. The threat of tax hikes, job losses and loss of private property rights still loom over the county.
“Today’s vote marks a rapid change of Board direction in response to American Tradition Partnership’s citizen lobbying program. But with the threat of Tax and Control still looming, American Tradition Partnership will continue to contact citizens, asking the current Board to drop entirely any future consideration of any form of a Tax and Control Plan.”
Supported by contributions from its grassroots supporters, American Tradition Partnership has earned its reputation as the nation’s most effective opponent of the multi-million dollar radical environmentalist lobby. In just the last few months ATP has:
• Killed Barack Obama’s “Cap and Tax” bill in Congress.
• Successfully pushed to have the invasive gray wolf taken off the so-called “Endangered Species List” so it can be hunted down.
• Filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado to repeal the state’s Expensive Energy Mandate, which forces consumers to buy more expensive wind and solar power against their will.
• Filed a lawsuit against Montana to stop their ongoing harassment and false smear campaigns against conservative groups, which has already been blasted by federal courts as “petty bureaucratic harassment.” Montana officials have openly admitted they have no evidence conservative groups have done any wrong and every district attorney has refused to even look into the politically-motivated accusations.
• Won national headlines along with our federal free speech lawsuit against Montana which allows small employers to spend money on independent political expenditures.
• Won a federal free speech lawsuit against a liberal Colorado city who passed a law requiring residents to essentially get permission from the government before saying or publishing anything critical of the liberal city council.
• Stopped a plan by liberals in the U.S. Senate to protect the EPA’s plans to declare carbon dioxide a toxic pollutant.
• Passed legislation in Montana endorsing nullification of the so-called “Endangered Species Act.”
• Launched a campaign to repeal New Hampshire’s participation in the “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative,” a northeastern U.S. “global warming” tax cartel
• Launched and now pushing nationwide a growing campaign to secure a recorded vote on Sen. Rand Paul’s REINS Act, which strips the EPA of its authority to issue its own major regulations.
ATP does not advocate the election or defeat of candidates. Supported by grassroots members, ATP is a fast-growing non-profit citizens’ group dedicated to fighting environmental extremism and promoting private property rights and responsible development and management of land, water, and natural resources.
# # #
