Rep. Gary Ackerman on the GOP's (Tea Party) License Plate Slush Fund Agenda (& bill he's planning)

[highplainsdem]

This is on his website -- http://ackermanforcongress.com/content/gops-license-plate-slush-fund-agenda -- and also on HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-gary-ackerman/gop-license-plate-arizona_b_851630.html

GOP's License Plate Slush Fund Agenda

-snip-

This morning, the Republican-controlled Arizona State Legislature sent Governor Jan Brewer legislation that would create a Tea Party license plate. Unlike the vanity Tea Party license plates of other states, the Arizona plates would serve as a conduit to direct $17 of the annual $25 fee to Tea Party groups. There is of course no proposal for a comparable license plate to fund progressive groups. (For the record, I would not support such a use of government resources for groups on either side of the political spectrum.)

It's an unabashed Tea Party political pay-off. "Thanks for campaigning for us, here’s a wad of cash collected by the government... just for you."

So, the next political attack ad you see on TV questioning the President’s birth certificate could be funded from a generous grant from the State of Arizona.

In response, I will introduce legislation, the License Plate Political Slush Fund Prevention Act, when Congress reconvenes. Under my bill, governors would need to certify that they are not using license plate fees to launder and funnel money to political organizations, or risk losing 15 percent of their federal highway funding. I challenge Speaker Boehner to bring it to the floor. Let’s see where Republicans really stand on small government and political slush funds.

-snip-

Good for him.

That page also says he's asking people following him on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/RepGaryAckerman ) and Facebook to give him their ideas for slogans for Tea Party plates, using the hashtag #teapartyplates -- which I just searched for on Twitter. I saw only a few responses so far, including these:

Don't tread on taxpayer-financed roads

It's all about ME

show me where in the constitution it says I need a license plate

I don't know the original meaning of teabagging

[aquart]

1. That's my momma's congressman. Go Gary!

[highplainsdem]

2. kick