The top legislative priority for organized labor and their allies in Congress is the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as “Card Check.” EFCA is an enormous power grab by big labor bosses that would strip workers of their right to decide by private ballot whether to join a union, and their right to freely negotiate their contract. Instead, workers would be asked to publically sign cards in front of union organizers, potentially subjecting them to harassment or intimidation. EFCA is a threat to workers’ rights.

Our effort is not anti-union; our effort is anti-EFCA.

Our internal polling shows that the American people are firmly on the side of supporting a worker’s right to a secret ballot election. In fact, the tri-partisan agreement to defend this right is overwhelming, as 77% of Republicans, 82% of Democrats, and 79% of independents believe in protecting private ballots. Support for private ballots is so broad it also spanned union households and every subgroup examined, including majorities of every age, race, geographic group and both genders.

Join us here to sign our online petition to promote “freedom not fear” in the work place. 

We, therefore, petition the U.S. Congress to ensure that every worker has the right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to organize a union, as well as the right to ratify the contract terms of their employment, rather than be forced to accept a contract through binding arbitration.

Please follow this link and sign our online petition…send it to your friends and neighbors and help save jobs in America.

The Detroit News has a story about my new role with Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions as the Chairman of the “Save American Jobs Project” to protect worker rights to a secret ballot and approval of their own labor agreements…

Anuzis…will join American Solutions, a conservative advocacy group founded by former House Speaker Gingrich. Anuzis will head an Internet campaign against the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation unions are hoping to push through Congress this year.

Gingrich’s group also is involved in high-profile efforts to allow offshore oil drilling and to reform the air-traffic control system.

Anuzis lost to Michael Steele in his bid to head the national GOP. But he has earned high marks among activists and consultants for his use of the Internet.

The New York Times wrote an article about conservatives desire to stand on principle in order to start winning elections again…

Saul Anuzis, the former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, who recently campaigned unsuccessfully for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, admonished his listeners to “try to start acting like conservatives.”

“There is nothing more troubling to the American public and there is no bigger reason why we lost this election than our own hypocrisy,” Mr. Anuzis said.

The CNN blog Politicalticker reports on RNC Chairman’s Michael Steele’s speech to CPAC where he called me out…

The former Maryland Lt. Governor took a moment to honor two of his former rivals for the RNC chairmanship who were in attendance, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Michigan GOP chairman Saul Anuzis.

Steele began his remarks by needling Anuzis, who ran for the post on a platform of upgrading the party’s technological savvy.

“Alright Saul, stop Twittering,” he cracked.

Congressional Quarterly covered part of my speech to CPAC yesterday…

“There is no bigger reason we lost this election than our own hypocrisy,” Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis told an audience gathered to hear a presentation billed as, “The Key to Victory? Listen to Conservatives.” Anuzis said the blame for election losses rests squarely on conservatives who were elected to office “and then they went to Washington and lost their way.”

“We need to stand on our principles and start acting like Republicans again,” Anuzis added.

FOX News had additional coverage as various speakers discussed the “soul searching” our party is doing at this time…

Saul Anuzis, former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party who lost a bid to run the Republican National Committee, said public perception of Republicans isn’t pretty, and rightfully so.

“There is probably nothing more troubling to the American public … than our hypocrisy,” he told an audience Thursday. “A lot of people lost their faith with us, it’s that simple. Republicans went to Washington and lost their way.”

So far this has been a great conference.  Later this morning, Newt Gingrich will be holding a blogger breakfast where he will announce our “Save American Jobs Project” that will push for “freedom not fear” in the workplace.

Over 8,000 conservatives from around the country have gathered to share their views, analysis and plans for the future.  Once again, a great conference!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  February 27, 2009

CONTACT:  Dan Kotman, dkotman@americansolutions.com or 202-355-479

Saul Anuzis Joins American Solutions’ Campaign to Promote ‘Freedom Not Fear’ in the Workplace 

Anuzis will lead a grassroots campaign to save American jobs and protect the secret ballot

WASHINGTON, DC—Saul Anuzis, former Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, joined the American Solutions team today as National Chairman of its “Save American Jobs Project.”

“We are thrilled to have Saul join the American Solutions team and lead this important project,” said Newt Gingrich, American Solutions’ General Chairman.  “Saul is an extraordinary leader with the new media savvy and grassroots connections to successfully chair this nationwide campaign.” 

The “Save American Jobs Project” is a grassroots, Internet-based campaign to mobilize citizens to defeat the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and protect workers’ right to a secret ballot union election and their right to freely negotiate their contracts.  If EFCA became law, workers would be asked to publically sign cards in front of union organizers, potentially subjecting them to harassment or intimidation.

“We need freedom not fear in the workplace to be competitive in the global economy,” said Gingrich.  “With business owners struggling to keep their doors open, the last thing they need is more costly bureaucratic red tape and federally imposed work rules.  Forcing workers to join a union will kill jobs in America at a time we can’t afford to lose them.”

In discussing his new role, Saul Anuzis said, “I am excited to join with Newt and American Solutions in this crucial fight to save American jobs and protect worker’s rights.  We look forward to working with our coalition partners to defeat this anti-democratic bill that is wrong for our economy and our country.”   Anuzis, a former Teamster, went on to say, “I believe that workers have the right to organize, but they must be permitted to vote in private and freely negotiate their contracts.”

To learn more about the “Save American Jobs Project” and petition drive, visit www.AmericanSolutions.com.

About American Solutions
American Solutions is a tri-partisan, citizen action network founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.  American Solutions’ goal is to create the next generation of solutions that will ensure that the United States remains the safest, freest, and most prosperous country in the world and that will enjoy the support of a tri-partisan majority of Americans (Democrats, Republicans, independents).

###

Paid for by American Solutions for Winning the Future.

Not authorized by any candidate, or candidate committee.  Not printed at government expense.

www.americansolutions.com

The Wall Street Journal has a great op-ed that clearly lays out the shell game President Obama is trying to “sell” the American people and more specifically the taxpayer…you know, they folks who will actually pay the bills.

President Obama has laid out the most ambitious and expensive domestic
agenda since LBJ, and now all he has to do is figure out how to pay for it.
On Tuesday, he left the impression that we need merely end “tax breaks for
the wealthiest 2% of Americans,” and he promised that households earning
less than $250,000 won’t see their taxes increased by “one single dime.”

This is going to be some trick. Even the most basic inspection of the IRS
income tax statistics shows that raising taxes on the salaries, dividends
and capital gains of those making more than $250,000 can’t possibly raise
enough revenue to fund Mr. Obama’s new spending ambitions.

Now, if you look at the facts and consider what the actual statistics show us, you’ll realize there is NO way middle America won’t feel a big hit to fund this massive expansion of government programs, debt and taxes.

Consider the IRS data for 2006, the most recent year that such tax data are
available and a good year for the economy and “the wealthiest 2%.” Roughly
3.8 million filers had adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 in 2006.
(That’s about 7% of all returns; the data aren’t broken down at the $250,000
point.) These people paid about $522 billion in income taxes, or roughly 62%
of all federal individual income receipts. The richest 1% — about 1.65
million filers making above $388,806 — paid some $408 billion, or 39.9% of
all income tax revenues, while earning about 22% of all reported U.S.
income.

This is an  article worth sharing with your friends.  President Obama “hopes” we only listen to the rhetoric and ignore the facts.

The Wall Street Journal  reported…

Anyone who thought the recession and financial market turmoil would moderate
President Obama’s policy ambitions discovered the opposite last night. Far
from suggesting limits on Congress or federal spending, the new President
made clear in his first State of the Union address that he believes in
government power as the answer to our current difficulties, and he intends
to use it.

The folks had Human Events put it this way…

n past weeks while pushing for his $787 billion recovery package President Obama projected almost apocalyptic consequences regarding the state of the economy,  but in his sort of State of the Union address Tuesday night Obama took on a much more optimistic tone, promising the nation that we will rebuild, recover, and “emerge stronger than before.” 

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said…

 Tonight we will find out if the mountain of debt our children and grandchildren are inheriting will get even higher.  Every American who’s concerned about the jobs and prosperity that we are in the process of robbing from future generations of Americans should tune in.  And pay close attention.

And then Jeb Babbin of Human Events added…

Forget all the conspiracy theories of a mythological “North American Union” combining us with Mexico and Canada. Barack Obama wants America to be an unofficial member of the European Union. The path he outlined in his quasi “state of the union” address is to remake America on the model of a European welfare state. 

In a APNEWS story that DRUDGE carried on their front page, the reported…

 President Barack Obama promised a nation shuddering in economic crisis Tuesday night that he would lead it from a dire “day of reckoning” to a brighter future, summoning politicians and public alike to shoulder responsibility for hard choices and shared sacrifice. “The time to take charge of our future is here,” Obama declared, delivering his first address to a joint session of Congress.

The bottom line is that we better be careful and diligent as President Obama and the Democrats saddle this country, our children and yes even our grandchildren with a huge debt. The Democrat’s Obama Plan will end up being the largest expansion of government in our history, the largest expansion of our national debt in our history and still amazingly the almost ubiqutous and incredibly naive public reaction of “hope”.  Wake up America, we are in for a very tough ride.

Here is a great post from Dan Ouellette on what he would do if he were State Chairman for a year…a great outline and suggestions for any and all party leaders.

I want to talk more grass roots and what they should be doing on a state level that would benefit everyone. If a plan like this was implemented on a local level it would allow Republicans to exceed even more than they can by implementing a national plan. So who am I to talk about this? Just another conservative techno geek. I am not going to go into all my credentials, but those who have worked with me know I have managed state-wide, congressional and numerous state senate races as well as working on presidential campaigns. I also have been involved heavily in social networking over the last year and using social networking and blogs to build a real estate business. I have also worked as a professional blogger in more than one state over the last few years.

Share some good ideas with your local party leaders…best practices work!

Chairman Michael Steele asked me to serve as Co-Chairman of the Transition Team and head up the Technology Committee.  To date, over 7,000 Republican activists from around the country have contributed to our efforts.  There is a ning page that fosters a broad range of discussion.  There are Facebook groups set up for each of our working groups.  If you want to be part of this…you have an opportunity to have your say.

The Tech Summit Grassroots Working Group has gone as “far” as to have YouTube videos encouraging activists to participate.  Join us and help make a difference!

The folks at American Spectator and others around the country have now organized at least 25 Tea Parties nationwide.

You can join the Washington DC Tea Party at the Washington monument Friday at noon and get more info on the Facebook event’s page.  At noon nationwide, others will be taking place…just elsewhere as listed here by the folks at Top Conservatives on Twitter.

Boston Tea Party logo

Here is your chance to express yourself to members of Congress and the press nationwide…some of us still care about who is going to get stuck paying the bills.  Unfortunately, it looks like it will be up to my kids and grandkids!

A little revolution every now and then is a good thing!

Jack Kemp

American Spectator has a great article titled “We’re Not OK, Jack”…discussing the need the conservative movement has for someone like Kemp.

What conservatives need right now is another Jack Kemp for a younger generation.

Not that there really could be another Kemp either, of course, because his particular brand of infectious enthusiasm and passion for bold ideas are sui generis. But somebody new could play a similar role to the one he played for the conservative movement for the better part of two decades.

This why I always refer to myself as a Kemp/Gingrich Republican…it’s all about the “Opportunity Society”!!!

The staff did a great job packing 4 years of my role as Michigan GOP Chairman into a 2 minute video!  Just a little bit too much poetic justice