A Big Thank You to YES on 3 Supporters

Thank you to the approximately 965,000 voters of Massachusetts who voted YES on 3.

This was our highest vote total ever, despite heavily-funded opposition.

A very special thanks to every one of you who rolled up your sleeves and helped. Who donated. Who helped collect 111,000 petition signatures and did other critical volunteer work. Who made signs and bumper stickers visible to voters across the state. Who talked to your friends and neighbors. Who wrote letters to editors and called talk shows. Who blogged and sent emails.

Your work for Ballot Question 3, to roll back the sales tax to 3%, advanced the cause of small government.

Your contributions forced our Big Government, High Tax opponents to discuss and debate the merits of less government and lower taxes.

Your work and donations provoked the Teachers Unions and other government unions to burn up $4.65 million – mostly in advertising – to scare voters out of reducing the sales tax.

By draining their campaign coffers by $4.65 million, you weakened them.

You forced the Teachers Unions to sweat out an estimated 192,000 hours of UNPAID Volunteer Work to prevent a sales tax cut.

You helped us do to the Teachers Unions what General George Washington did to the British Generals during the first half of the American Revolution. You stung them. Delayed them. Frustrated them.

Your work exposed the Teachers Unions, the Massachusetts ‘Taxpayer’ Foundation, the Boston Chamber of Commerce, and other advocates of high taxes for what they are: Big Government Profiteers.

Because of you, voters and the media gave serious consideration to a pay hike for taxpayers and a substantial reduction in Big Government.

You are the ones who walk the talk. Who stood up for the taxpayers, the job-seekers, the small business owners and the workers – and for our future.

We honor you, appreciate you, and thank you for actively supporting the 2010 ballot initiative to Roll Back the Massachusetts Sales Tax to 3%.

Small government is possible.

Your friends,

Carla Howell and Michael Cloud

5 Responses to “A Big Thank You to YES on 3 Supporters”

1. Edward Teyssier says:

   November 3, 2010 at 12:56 pm

   You need to figure out the ratio of money we spent vs. the money the unions spent….
   If it was, say, 10 to 1, then that means for every dollar we spent we take 10 dollars from the union’s campaigns.

   -Edward

2. Dan says:

   November 3, 2010 at 1:10 pm

   The Chamber of Commerce should be ashamed. No visible effort by the Chamber to help roll back the sales tax. The Mass Retail Association lacked effort. The city of Haverhill voted YES on Q3. All the NO votes… most voters took the bait, hook, line, and sinker. Too bad most Mass voters do not understand fiscal responsibility.

   However, thank you so much for your great effort.

3. LB says:

   November 5, 2010 at 11:33 pm

   I voted YES on Q3, and I will continue to vote YES on any initiative petition that will roll back taxes. I just wish that the voters were made more aware that the so-called “business leaders” who spent so much money to flood the airwaves with their scare tactics were actually the government reps whose bottom line is the only thing threatened by tax cuts. You know how the old saying goes:
   Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. This schlub was never fooled. Please don’t give up.

4. Mike says:

   November 7, 2010 at 10:24 am

   Carla did a fantastic job, so proud to have her advocating for this in our state. I wonder–would the question have gotten more support if the roll-back was to 5% (instead of the 3%), which it had been previously? Might need to take a gradual approach to wean these tax-loving voters off the teats of the government…

5. Kenny says:

   November 12, 2010 at 6:50 pm

   Question 3 was arguably the most conservative thing on the ballot.
   The fact that more people voted Yes on 3 than voted for RINOs Charlie Baker and Rich Tisei is an encouraging sign, I think.