Replace All Federal Taxes on Income with the Fair Tax Act , HR 25
SE Tennessee Progress Report
I'll be back shortly to post quite a bit of info that I've learned over the past couple of days. Stay tuned.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Premo Mondone on
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Ok.....I've got a lot of info to share, so here goes.
I didn't have to contact Mark West, as I had an email waiting on me when I got home, thanking me for speaking at the Tea Party. Here is my response to Mark and his reply to me.
My Response:
You're welcome and I really enjoyed the event. I was telling the folks at the FairTax meeting tonight that I would bet that 90+% of the people at the Tea Party had never been to a "protest" of any kind. That for the most part, conservatives don't make a habit of protesting, that it takes something really unusual and really big to get us involved. Liberals on the other hand protest almost anything and have a lot more experience than we do.
I certainly hope that there is another event similar to the Tea Party in the future. If there is, please let me know. Also, I think I can speak for Jim Tomasik at FairTax Nation in saying that we'd definately be interested in participating and hopefully being an even bigger part of the event. It was awfully tough to do justice to the FairTax with only a four minutes speaking slot. If I could get more time at any future event, I'm sure I could do a much better job and give the FairTax the time it deserves.
Please know that we would be willing to provide some people from our organization to help out in anyway that we could. Just let us know what we can do to help and we'll do our best not to let you down.
His reply:
Thanks Premo. I got the impression from interaction with folks last night and their response to you that there is already a pretty strong support for the FT amongst the audience that was there. We'll stay hooked up with you guys and if I'm in town the next time you have a meeting I will attend. I'm on board already with the FT. In case you didn't know, I was the grassroots organizer for the Mike Huckabee campaign in Chattanooga area so I'm with you guys 100%!
So, even though he didn't give any specifics about when the next event might be, it seems as if we have an ally in Mark West. When there is an event, we need to be as helpful as possible and I think if we do that, the rest will follow. -
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I talked on the phone to Mark Bohemier in South Carolina about their post card system. He said they got it from the FTN Central Florida Group. He directed me to the thread where all the info we need is located, complete with sample card, etc.
FTN Post Card System
What they did was print these up, using laser printers on card quality stock. They had them at their table and had clipboards and pens for everyone. The people lined up to fill them out and they had a donation bucket and asked for a donation of a dollar to pay the postage. He said most people paid the $1 or gave $2 or $5 or even $10-$20 to help them out.
After the event, they got all their email addresses down and followed up with them. They then used a large paper cutter and cut the sheets into the four post cards. The three of the cards were for the persons two Senators and their Congressman. The 4th card was for Charlie Rangel who chairs the powerful Tax Ways & Means Committee.
This is even better than I hoped. Instead of just being a recruiting tool for new members for FTN and/or supporters of the FairTax, we're actually letting them help the cause by contacting their elected representatives.
He said the people really liked this idea, as it made they feel like a part of the FairTax movement, immediately. They were actually doing something, contacting their Congressman or Senator, which for most people, they've never done before.
He said that during the Tea Party, they had 542 sheets filled out, having 4-5 deep in 3-4 lines the entire two hours. He said that a good place to set-up on a Saturday is Wal-Mart. He said that in South Carolina, Wal-Mart was very FairTax friendly and that they might be here too. I don't know why we didn't think of that, but I still think the Bi-Lo or Publix idea is a good one too. I really feel that we'd get more done like this, rather than going door to door.
The card is in Word format, so it wouldn't take a whole lot to modify it for Tennessee, etc. Also, he said that instead of buying stamps and mailing the card individually, they would put them all into a large envelope or box and mail them like that, thus saving on postage and adding to their funds. He said that they sold all their T-Shirts and Hats the other day and cleared about $1,000 in profit, which they'll use of course to buy more merchandise or educational material, etc. -
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Permalink Reply by FairTaxChatt on
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That's great information Premo. I think that sending post cards (or even form letters) to Congressmen and Senators is a great idea. We may want to consider purchasing pre-made post cards as well if we go that route. By the time we buy card stock, print, and cut, we may come out cheaper buying them. I've used a site for business cards recently (www.uprinting.com); they have 1,000 post cards (4x6) full color both sides for about $83.
Do you know if there is anywhere to get a template for banners, handouts, post cards, t-shirts, etc. on FTN (or even FT.org)? I would have thought those things would be readily available for organizers to use, but I don't see any. -
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Yea, I'm thinking that it might be best to just have them pre-printed, just mentioned how they did it. We could have them done online or check with a local printer to see if we might save a few bucks. It might be that the online guys are cheaper, even with shipping, etc. I use a full color online printer to do my business cards and I'm able to design the card myself online. They're fast too. Whenever I've placed an order, it seems as if it always goes out within 24-36hrs, depending on what time of the day or night I place the order.
I'll see what I can find out about other materials. Someone out there must already have some stuff that we can just purchase, so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel and/or have to have done locally. Having FTN Banner made, might be an exception, but I'm not sure. I'll see what I can find out about this, if anyone else has contacts at FTN, might be a good idea to do some checking on your own, to make sure we're covering all the bases. -
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More miscellaneous stuff:
I saw somewhere on the FTn website that there already is some sort of FTN pledge sheet. We should find it, take a look at it and go from there. We might want to include it with the post card system, but perhaps not, but we should at least take a look.
If you click on the PayPal link to make a donation, the money goes to "Illinois FairTax" or something like that. Hopefully Dean will have more info on that, after talking to Jim T. -
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Merchandise:
Marc says that we need to get with Grass Roots Freedom Ride to get our T-shirts, hats, flags, etc. If we go local, we'll have to pay $40 for a new screen every time we have something printed. He says that with Grassroots, you pay a one time $25 fee and then just the cost of the stuff and that they are selling it with no mark-up. They make all their money from bike rides that they do, etc. He said if you set-up at a Wal-mart or whatever that people will by the t-shirts, hats and bumper stickers if they are laying out on the table. -
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Ok......I think that's all I had for right now. Anybody else got anything?
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Permalink Reply by Larry Stewart on
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Hi Y'all - I just joined the SE group. Great job following through on our quest! I've done two things since our meeting on Thursday. (1) I purchased a 10 ft x 10 ft pop up tent, so that we can set up a table and chairs under it and not get baked to a crisp. It would be great to get a banner to attach to it for people to see what's going on - build curiosity, etc. (2) I created a petition that can be printed and used with a clip board to have people express their support for the FairTax. I've got it as a jpg file, and I will attempt to attach to this message. I agree with you Premo - setting up at a market or store seems much more productive than going door-to-door, and seem a lot more fun too.
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Paper Petition Form 1.jpg, 230 KB
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More progress -- I found a place where we can print a 2 ft high by 10 ft wide banner to attach to the tent. The cost is only $30, plus shipping. We can decide on the wording, but I've attached a sample idea. What ideas do y'all have. Something to catch people's attention and draw them over to sign the petition.
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Petition Banner 1a.bmp, 378 KB
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Great job on the petition, Larry. I'm not sure, but I thought the FT bill in the Senate was S. 296 now. I've seen 1025 as well though, so I'm not exactly sure which one it is now.
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Larry:
Nice job on both the petition and the banner. There is a FTN petition at the bottom of the main page. You may want to take a look at it, if for no other reason that to perhaps add their logo to the top of the petition. Also, I think "filling" has two "L's", instead of one.
You shouldn't have gone to the expense of the tent. Perhaps we can all pitch in at the next meeting to help with the costs, or it can be a priority that you get reimbursed, once we start bringing in any money. Something along those lines I'm sure would be fine with everyone.
I think that when possible, we should utilize the FTN logo for a couple of reasons. It looks nice and professional and it's a way to "brand" our efforts. In anything like this, it's important to brand what you're doing so that people begin to recognize who and what you're all about. Just my two cents.... -
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