LATEST PRESS RELEASE....
For Immediate Release: Contact: Jeff Kropf
November 19, 2013 541-729-6229
Petunia The Pork Detective sez: “It Pays to Sue the IRS!”
Petunia and OCWF researcher Barbara Guardino at the 2013 Oregon State Fair
SALEM-Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation’s Executive Director and former State Representative Jeff Kropf announces the IRS’s granting of their 501C3 tax exempt status after suing the IRS for their alleged unfair and unconstitutional targeting of the Foundation’s application.
“It sure looks like the IRS granted our tax exempt status in response to our joining the ACLJ lawsuit because they communicated the approval of our application through the ACLJ and not our corporate lawyer or me as the Executive Director” said Kropf. “Normally, they would have notified Capitol Watch or our lawyer first, but it seems they are so embarrassed by such a high profile lawsuit they decided to send us notification through our litigation attorneys. I guess Petunia is right: it really does pay to sue the IRS.”
OCWF joined 40 other plaintiffs in 22 states represented by The American Center for Law and Justice in their amended filing in federal court in Washington D.C. alleging the constitutional rights of these groups were violated by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs.
The ACLJ lawsuit names US Attorney General Eric Holder, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, acting IRS Commissioner Werfel, former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and other IRS employees such as Lois Lerner and Holly Paz all as defendants.
“It’s really too bad that it took a lawsuit and citizen outrage about the obvious attempt at silencing our free speech to force the IRS to approve a simple tax exempt application” said Kropf. “I hope those responsible will now be held accountable for delaying our application for well over two years, when it should have taken just a few months to process and we intend to continue pressing our lawsuit to that end”.
Kropf noted that OCWF first applied for tax exempt status in May 2011 and only after joining the lawsuit was their application approved, some 27 months later.
“We also want to thank Congressman Greg Walden for looking into this situation on our behalf during this time period,” says Kropf. “His staff did an excellent job of keeping us informed of their conversations with the IRS about the delays in approving our application.”
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution and several violations for of the Administrative Procedures Act. The Plaintiffs seek judgment by jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees. The ACLJ press release, original lawsuit and amended filing can be found at: http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/jay-sekulow-aclj-now-represents-41-conservative-groups-in-federal-lawsuit-against-irs
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation is a non profit, tax deductible educational foundation dedicated to educating citizens about how government spends their tax dollars and offering common sense ideas for improved government efficiency. www.ocwf.org
For Immediate Release: Contact: Jeff Kropf
November 19, 2013 541-729-6229
Oregon Capitol Watch Joins Lawsuit Against the IRS
SALEM-Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation’s Executive Director and former State Representative Jeff Kropf announces the formal filing of legal action yesterday against the Internal Revenue Service for unfairly and unconstitutionally targeting OCWF by delaying the approval of the Foundation’s 501C3 tax exempt application.
OCWF joins 40 other plaintiffs in 22 states represented by The American Center for Law and Justice in their amended filing in federal court in Washington D.C. alleging the constitutional rights of these groups were violated by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs.
“The stunning admission by the IRS that they targeted certain groups alerted us to the possibility that OCWF was one of those organizations” said Kropf. “And based on our experience with the agency we asked our foundation legal counsel Tyler Smith to contact the ACLJ, which eventually led to our joining the amended lawsuit”
The ACLJ lawsuit names US Attorney General Eric Holder, US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, acting IRS Commissioner Werfel, former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and other IRS employees such as Lois Lerner and Holly Paz all as defendants.
“We submitted our 501C3 tax exempt application in May of 2011 and 25 months later, we still haven’t been either denied or granted tax exempt status” said Kropf. “We finally received a request for additional information in January of 2013 asking some of the same intrusive questions that were reported on national news. We immediately complied with their request and haven’t heard a word from them since”
The lawsuit alleges the defendants violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the US Constitution and several violations for of the Administrative Procedures Act. The Plaintiffs seek judgment by jury trial, compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees. The ACLJ press release, original lawsuit and amended filing can be found at: http://aclj.org/free-speech-2/jay-sekulow-aclj-now-represents-41-conservative-groups-in-federal-lawsuit-against-irs
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation is a non profit, tax deductible educational foundation dedicated to educating citizens about how government spends their tax dollars and offering common sense ideas for improved government efficiency. www.ocwf.org
Josephine County Residents Explain Public Safety No Vote
Person on the street interviews reveal the truth!
· Citizens don’t trust county government to spend wisely
· Tired of voting on property tax increases (6th time in 10 yrs)
· Reject Salem’s Josephine County only income tax increase
Josephine County residents speak their mind and send a message to Salem politicians considering forcing only them to pay additional income taxes.
SALEM-Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation’s Executive Director and former State Representative Jeff Kropf announced a media campaign today asking citizens for their opinion about politicians in Salem mandating a Josephine County only income tax increase for public safety. The campaign features Josephine County residents with Capitol Watch’s Petunia the Pork Detective in the background.
Oregon Capitol Watch is running coordinated TV, radio, newsprint, social media ads along with a grassroots campaign around Oregon in an effort to learn what citizens think about the unprecedented possibility of targeted citizens paying a higher income tax rate based on where they live. In a special two minute video report, Josephine County residents explain why they rejected a property tax increase for public safety for the 6th time in 10 years and what they think about being forced by politicians in Salem to pay higher income taxes than anyone else.
“Petunia and I decided it was time to journey to Josephine County to video on the street interviews with real people to understand why they voted no” said Kropf. “We also wanted to know their reaction to proposals in Salem to impose a special income tax increase only on them to fund their public safety”.
The two minute special TV report asks viewers to express their opinion on the OCWF website by voting on the following question: Should the Governor and the state intervene by forcing a public safety tax only on Josephine County?
“We really want to know what the people of Oregon think about Josephine County residents being forced to pay higher taxes for public safety by politicians in Salem” Kropf said. “That’s why we are asking people to watch the video report, go to our website and vote or comment on this issue”
The two minute video report is running on KOBI TV NBC 5 in Medford and Grants Pass during the evening news at 5, 6 and 11 on June 20, 21 and 25, along with radio, print and social media ads urging citizens to watch the TV broadcast on KOBI, then vote on the OCWF website. A grassroots email campaign begins at the same time to reach out to those who may not see or hear the broadcasts or print ads.
Oregon Capitol Watch will publish the vote results and comments within a few days after the campaign ends.
All on the street interviews in this video report were conducted in Merlin, Cave Junction and Grants Pass in early June, with most interviewees randomly selected in public places.
The two minute video report can be viewed at www.ocwf.org as well as the opportunity to vote and comment.
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation is a non profit, tax deductible educational foundation dedicated to educating citizens about how government spends their tax dollars and offering common sense ideas for improved government efficiency. www.ocwf.org
For Immediate Release: Contact: Jeff Kropf
May 5, 2015 541-729-6229
Petunia Awards Josephine County Commissioners Porker Award
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Hiring more bureaucrats instead of Sheriff’s deputies.
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Crony backroom deal on Illinois Valley Airport in default.
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Heavy handed public meetings leave citizens frustrated.
SALEM-Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation’s Executive Director and former State Representative Jeff Kropf announced Petunia’s latest ‘Porker Award’ goes to the Josephine County Commissioners in a ceremony at Republican Headquarters across the street from the county courthouse, Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 12:30PM.
The award comes as the voters are deciding on another public safety property tax increase levy, after soundly defeating a previous property tax increase measure barely two years earlier. This time the measure comes from a group of citizens rather than the commissioners, yet the commissioners continued wasteful spending and heavy handed public meeting tactics is creating opposition to the new measure.
“Petunia and I decided to support taxpayers concerned about this measure prior to the citizens voting on raising their property taxes” said Kropf. “As we travel around the county, citizen after citizen tells us how they distrust the commissioners to spend this new money wisely”.
The citizens group “We’re for a Constitutional Government” invited Petunia and Jeff to join them on a two day, county wide tour of rallies, meetings and sign waving’s as the ballots are being turned in. A group of seven vehicles covered with “no new taxes” signs convened a convoy of vehicles that started Monday in Cave Junction in several locations, held a rally at the senior center, then moved on to stops at the Kerbyville Museum and Selma, before returning to Cave Junction to present the case against the tax increase before a local neighborhood watch meeting.
“90% of citizen’s response has been positive to our message to vote no. They tell us that’s because the county commission continues to make unwise spending decisions like hiring several more bureaucrats instead of badly needed sheriff’s deputies or failing to put the IV airport developer into default for being months behind in payments until forced to” Kropf said. “Voters in Josephine County are not dumb and they see this so called ‘citizens initiative’ as nothing more than creating a big slush fund for the commissioners, with no guarantees the money actually goes to public safety. The lack of transparency from the commission has created a stunning level of distrust amongst the citizens and I will be surprised if Measure 17-66 passes”.
Day two of the tour begins in Grants Pass in the morning at various locations, culminating in Petunia’s Porker Award at 12:30 during the lunch hour at the Republican Party headquarters right across the street from the county courthouse. Several local citizens will be speaking along with Jeff Kropf and then moving on to continuing the tour around the city, while ending the day around 3:30pm in Merlin at the Ray’s Food parking lot.
Oregon Capitol Watch Foundation is a non profit, tax deductible educational foundation dedicated to educating citizens about how government spends their tax dollars and offering common sense ideas for improved government efficiency. www.ocwf.org
