John Tate HQ Location: Bristow, VA Last login: 11/20/09 RSS feed
John is a long-time political operative who has spent the last 26 years working in the political, lobbying and non-profit world in the areas of high dollar fundraising, direct mail, political strategy, grassroots activism and non-profit management.
He is the founder and President of JFT Consulting, Inc. a consulting firm that specializes in political strategy, fundraising and grassroots lobbying.John served as the National Political Director for The Ron Paul Presidential Campaign Committee and is currently President of the newly formed Campaign for Liberty.
Prior to joining Campaign for Liberty, John served as the Vice President, Membership for the Leadership Institute.In this role he headed up a department of LI staff that contacted and visited supporters nationwide to show them and raise funds for special targeted LI programs. In his 4 years at LI this program raised nearly $4 million. He also taught at many of LIs schools.
Before joining LI, John spent 14 years with the National Right to Work Committee, serving as Vice President from 1998 to 2004.As Vice President he oversaw all state and federal lobbying efforts, public relations, the affiliated state and federal PACs for Right to Work and a direct mail and telemarketing fundraising operation that raised more than $23 million to combat Big Labor’s coercive power over workers.
In 1996, John was the GOP nominee for Congress in Virginia’s 2nd district.
Prior to his work at National Right to Work, John was Executive Director of Right to Work organizations in California and Delaware, and was Legislative Director of the United States Defense Committee.
John is a long-time political activist in Virginia and National politics. He was Chairman of the Rules committee at the 1994 Virginia Republican State Convention and has worked on numerous local, state and national campaigns in Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, California, Colorado, New Hampshire and around the country.
John began teaching political strategy in 1983 and has taught at many schools and seminars through the years. He is a sought-after speaker on winning political technology and grass-roots mobilization at the local, state and national level and is author of The Grassroots Activist Manual.
John is a graduate of the University of Virginia with a B.A. in History.
John and is wife, Kathy, live in Bristow, VA, where they home school and are raising their five children, Lauren, Joe, Jake, Jared and John Robert.
Thanks to your quick action in contacting Congress, the House Financial Services Committee earlier today rejected Representative Mel Watt's attempt to hijack Audit the Fed by voting 43-26 to pass Ron Paul's amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill.
Dr. Paul called me right after the vote to personally express his thanks to C4L members for all of your efforts!
It is an incredible testament to the growing power of the liberty movement that we were able to get such an audit passed by a major House committee, but this is by no means the end of our fight.
Financial Services leadership has seemed determined for several months that if an audit of the Fed were to get out of Committee, it should be attached to an overall regulatory reform package that would actually increase the powers of the Fed to interfere in our economy.
Congressman Paul's amendment gives the Government Accountability Office power to conduct a thorough audit of the Fed's entire $2 trillion balance sheet and replaces the Watt language that would have further restricted GAO audits of the Federal Reserve.
While this is a victory over an attempted hijacking of our cause, the audit authority is still being rolled into the Financial Stability Improvement Act, a bill that Campaign for Liberty will oppose.
This Act will be voted on as soon as the Committee returns from its Thanksgiving break, and we will then know if it will move to the floor.
And it's already becoming clear that Ron Paul's amendment may face challenges on the House floor.
Now is the time to turn up the pressure!
Keep contacting Congress and tell your representative that before Congress debates over giving the Fed any new powers, we need to know what they're doing with the ones they already have!
Urge your representative to support a standalone, up or down vote on Audit the Fed, H.R. 1207.
We've put too much work into this effort to see an audit bogged down in yet another Washington bureaucratic nightmare.
Make no mistake, though, the victory today proved we can get the votes to pass the thorough, historic audit we've been fighting for this past year. We have put the Federal Reserve on notice that the freedom movement is serious about reclaiming our country and that it is here to stay.
Thanks for all you do for the cause of freedom. Now, let's finish this fight!
dont mind, but this is very complicated.
if any1 can explain the process, it wd b nice. now what they voted on was whether paul substitute shd b adopted or not - result was 43-26. then they are about to vote, whether the whole amendment shd b there or not ? whats going on ? thanks
and this is certainly not for the standalone HR 1207 bill, right ? whats the progress on that ?
- Barney Frank has been trying to get a regulatory "reform" package through the Committee.
- Watt submitted an amendment to that bill that, while claiming to be the thorough amendment we all wanted, actually put more restrictions on the GAO and kept current limits in place.
- Dr. Paul offered an amendment to replace Watt's language with a real, thorough audit of the Fed's entire balance sheet.
- When the committee voted to pass Dr. Paul's amendment today, they were voting both to replace Watt's amendment with the language and to attach it to the regulatory reform bill.
- The amendment is separate from 1207, and it is now officially a part of the regulatory reform bill.
this is great. but whats up with the Reuters editors?
almost 2/3's! of congress support this bill! that's a big misquote! and what's this about Watt promoting a "compromise amendment" that would have drawn a clear line at leaving monetary policy alone!? Are they insane!? This is RON PAUL'S BILL! NOT WATTS!!! Dr. Paul had already included the language in question when the amendment passed! That's why it PASSED! At least the media can do here is actually report this accurately! OR GIVE ME THE JOB SHEESH!
The real challenge comes when the GAO performs the audit and they are stone walled by the FED. No doubt the people at the GAO are not beyond corruption and the coffers at the FED are so large they could bribe just about anyone.
I would bet the first bribery case though will instantly close the FED down for good.
Our fights are plentiful!
But to the end the wise men and women who represents its people best, WILL WIN over this machine.
Let there be "NO FLAWS" in our sytem of Representives!
Another great job Dr. Paul!
We should have known you years ago to fight this GOOD fight!
You sir, are the heartbeats of the American people.
Stay healthy, WE NEED YOU and other WISE MEN like you...
I may be studying all night for an economics midterm, but tomorrow I will rest easy with the knowledge that the ruling class may finally have to answer for their corruption.
Financial Services leadership seems determined to include Audit the Fed as part of a regulatory reform package instead of passing it as a standalone bill.
While C4L will still do everything in its power to fight for a standalone vote on Audit the Fed on the House floor, it is critical we challenge Watt's amendment in Committee.
It will become much easier for our representatives to claim they still support Audit the Fed on the House floor if the Watt version passes, when, in reality, Representative Watt's amendment puts restrictions on Government Accountability Office audits of the Fed.
For example, Watt's amendment prevents the GAO from auditing or reviewing decisions to authorize, modify, extend, or terminate loans or liquidity facilities.
Congressman Paul will offer an amendment in Committee restoring an audit of the Fed's entire $2 trillion balance sheet, but we have received word that some of the Democrat members may be waffling on their support for his amendment.
Help us turn up the pressure on these members! Below is the list of Democrats on the committee who have cosponsored H.R. 1207. Please call them and urge them to vote "Yes" on Ron Paul's amendment. Click on their names to get their web contact information.
When contacting these members, remember that up to this point, they have been allies on this issue. A civil yet firm tone should be kept during these calls. They should be thanked for their cosponsorship, told that Mel Watt's changes to the bill are unacceptable, and urged to hold the line and honor their promise to support transparency at the Fed by voting "Yes" on Ron Paul's amendment.
For more information on the Watt amendment, check out this article by The Huffington Post's Ryan Grim.
We are continuing our work to achieve a standalone vote on H.R. 1207 on the House floor, but we must first stop the Watt amendment in the Financial Services Committee.
Make sure the Financial Services Committee members hear from you as soon as their offices open Thursday morning!
A vote could come any time tomorrow. Call, email, and fax the Financial Services Committee members to vote "Yes" on Congressman Ron Paul's amendment.
A few months ago, Congressman Ron Paul introduced HR 1207, also known as "Audit the Fed." If passed, the bill would give the government the ability to do a complete run down of the Fed, and take page by page account of what they have been doing with America's money, and who has been receiving it.
Since its creation in 1913, the Federal Reserve has been the sole contributor to the destruction of the dollar. This "destruction" can be pinpointed to the process of printing fiat currency with no back-up. Furthermore, the Fed has also been responsible for the funding of the unconstitutional war in the Middle-East, the banker bailouts, and the manipulation of interest rates. These immoral acts have thrown the country into an uncontrollable debt, destroyed the value of our money, and created "boom and bust" cycles that cheat the American people out of money and resources.
After the banker bailouts, the American people began to wake-up. They began to realize that they were be cheated on by America's elites. They also realized that "something" was responsible for the billions of dollars that were given to Wall Street for things like bonuses and perks. It was at that moment that people began to look at the Fed.
Right now, Dr. Paul's HR 1207 bill has made huge amounts of progress. It's message is being spread across the mainstream media, and more and more people in Congress are beginning to put their name on the bill on a daily basis.
At the current moment, HR 1207 is facing a major roadblock. Rep. Mel Watt is trying to get HR 1207 watered down. If this occurs, HR 1207 will be attached to a needless bill, and have its power to reveal the "truth" about the Fed destroyed. As a member of the Financial Committee, I urge you to make sure this does not happen. I ask that you please give your vote to keep HR 1207 from being attached to useless bill. Doing so will keep HR 1207 going strong, and get it one step closer to giving the American people the truth that they have deserved for so long.
I hate not being able to contact people outside of my district. Isn't the point of being a Congressman/woman to be open to people from all over the U.S.
With the exception of Kosmas, I called all of them today. I remained firm in my tone and thanked all of them for their co-sponsorship and asked all of them to not vote for the Watt Amendment.
Landlease - right - you can't call Rep Kosmos, I found out, but I did call all the rest. Please note, the amendment to RESTORE HR1207 is now called the Paul-Grayson - Grayson fully supports it, so you don't really have to call him unless you want to thank him.
When I called Representative Travis Childers(MS), this transpired.
Me: I'm calling today about the Audit the...
Staff Member: ...and you support Ron Paul's ammendment and oppose Mel Watt's?
Me: Now that you mention it, yes I am.
Staff Member: I will pass that along to the Congressman.
Wow. There must be alot of us lighting up the phones. You don't even need to finish a sentence to some of these guys' staffers and they already know what you want!
Posted by John Tate on 11/18/09 Last updated 11/18/09
&n bsp; &nbs p; &n bsp; &nbs p; November 18, 2009
Dear Representative,
On behalf of Campaign for Liberty's more than 200,000 grassroots activists across the country, as well as the seventy-five percent of the American people who support a thorough audit of the Federal Reserve System, I urge you to vote against the Watt Amendment to the Financial Stability Improvement Act when it comes before the Committee.
Instead, we request that you vote for the Paul-Grayson Amendment, which preserves an historic audit of the Fed's entire $2 trillion balance sheet while also addressing some valid concerns raised in Committee.
The Paul-Grayson Amendment would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct an audit of the Fed within one year after the passage of the Financial Stability Improvement Act.
With this Amendment, we would finally receive answers on how the Fed has spent taxpayer funds and what loans they have committed us to.
The Federal Reserve is one of the most powerful policy making bodies in the world, yet it operates without any real transparency or accountability to the American people. No other government agency has such an utter lack of sunshine.
The American People deserve transparency and sunshine at all levels of government. The Paul-Grayson Amendment is a significant step toward providing an historic level of transparency from the Federal Reserve.
We strongly urge you to reject the Watt Amendment and to vote for the Paul-Grayson Amendment in full Committee.
&n bsp; &nbs p; &n bsp; In Liberty,
&n bsp; &nbs p; &n bsp; &nbs p; John Tate, President
Posted by John Tate on 11/14/09 Last updated 11/13/09
Campaign for Liberty is taking the battle against Big Government's takeover of health care and health freedom to the television airwaves, and we need your help to mobilize more Americans in key target states.
As you know, the House passed a massive takeover of the health care industry a few days ago -- and the Senate is poised to begin action in the coming days.
With that in mind, Campaign for Liberty has begun to run the first of our hard-hitting TV ads in Nebraska urging voters to contact Senator Ben Nelson and tell him they oppose the Obama/Pelosi/Reid power grab. We're also airing ads in Nevada informing Harry Reid's constituents of his plans for their health care.
Thanks to the support of C4L members, we've purchased a week's worth of airtime in both states.
You'll be pleased to know we've been able to work with a supporter to obtain excellent air times at discounted rates. Our ads are airing all this week during shows like Larry King Live, The O'Reilly Factor, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and this coming Sunday, the ads will play during Meet the Press. In Nebraska, our ad will also run during the NASCAR race!
With such great time slots, our message will get lots of attention. But in order to make sure we win this battle in the Senate, we have much more to do.
First, we need to keep these ads up for longer than the week's time we've already purchased.
Next, we have identified five other key states where one or both senators could prove to be the deciding vote(s) for or against further government meddling in our lives.
These states are Arkansas (Sen. Blanche Lincoln), Louisiana (Sen. Mary Landrieu), Montana (Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester), Virginia (Senators Mark Warner and Jim Webb), and Maine (Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins).
Senator Blanche Lincoln is up for reelection in 2010, but she is facing a very hard fight to return to Washington. With enough pressure, she may be persuaded to vote against the Senate health care bill.
And that's why I'm asking for your help today.
It's vital we extend our ad campaign -- and move it into Arkansas and these other targeted states to get more people to turn up the heat on their senators.
We have set a fundraising goal of $100,000 to continue airing our Nebraska ads and to expand into Arkansas. Hopefully, we can raise more than that and go to even more swing states! Money raised above that amount will go toward extending this campaign around the nation.
A real-time ticker at the top of this page will list the amount raised and display the names of those who contribute to this crucial endeavor.
And click here to donate to our television ad campaign. All funds raised will be devoted exclusively to this project.
You and I can stop this bureaucratic nightmare in the Senate, but to do so, we have to keep the focus squarely on this attempted power grab in Washington.
I have a questen, if I donate money now dose that money go to run ads only in Nebraska? or are you ganna have a fundraiser for each of the states you've listed above?
I think they put the Nebraska ad up so we would get an idea of what they will be running, but the goal is to run state-specific ads in each state where we are likely to have an impact on their Senator's vote. The funds raised will go to each state where we have the most chance to influence the Senator. (I don't expect any ads will be run in Illinois, for instance, so I gladly donated in the hopes that I can be a part of influencing Senator's SOMEWHERE so we can stop this nightmare from becoming reality.)
The ad smells too much like fearmongering. The rhetoric should be toned down, unless the goal is to have it resonate only with people who already agree that health freedom is good.
What's completely missing from the ad is an explanation of the alternative. The alternative is not "nothing". We have an actual plan. Why aren't we talking about that instead of saying that the federal government is going to throw me in jail if I eat a hamburger.
If you want people to donate their money to your advertising campaign, the message needs to mature.
The left accuses the right as the party of no ideas. I think what should be included in the commercials is how deregulation would help improve healthcare.
"unless the goal is to have it resonate only with people who already agree that health freedom is good."
As I understand it, the ad is designed to get people to contact Sen. Nelson. So yes, I'd say the audience is people who already agree that health freedom is good but need a nudge to pick up the phone.
The complaints that the ad offers no alternatives or is simply fearmongering, missed the point entirely. The point is to spur those who are scared of gov-care to contact Sen. Nelson. It's not, "hey listen to our great views on this issue." If we're lucky, some people will check out the C4L web site to get the more substantive arguments but that's not the main point.
The commercial is seeking immediate action against the bill to stop it, since they are ramming it through as fast as they can. Explaining what should be done generates no immediate action. Once the bill is stopped is when we can introduce the alternative, our actual plan, which will allow the people to make their own choices on healthcare.
The difference is giving people facts that are truth, although it may be scary as well, gives them the insight they need to understand how important freedom is as in making their own choices on their personal healthcare. Rather than putting fear in the people to move forward with an agenda that is not in their best interest but making them think it is.
The only way to get the facts to the people quickly is to present it via MSM, it is the only way we can enlighten them at this moment in history. Perhaps the majority of people will be take it upon themselves to read and seek truth by visiting the Campaign for Liberty website and we will work hard and spread the word of the C4L Freedom Health Plan. This time people will be listening!
House Democrat leadership is planning to ram its 1,900-page complete government takeover of health care through Congress with a vote this Saturday at 6 pm eastern.
But many Democrats are hesitant to support the plan after Tuesday's election results. With every passing day, they are growing more worried about facing the wrath of angry constituents back home.
You and I can take advantage of their doubts to stop the Pelosi Plan in the House, but only if we act quickly and make it clear where we stand.
And if the vote takes place Saturday night as scheduled, they will be in their offices all that day. So keep the calls going on Saturday!
There is a real alternative to yielding more power over our lives to Washington: implementing a plan centered on freedom, choice, and faith in the American taxpayers that they know how to spend their money better than some unelected bureaucrat.
This new website highlights our Health Freedom Plan, features videos from Judge Napolitano, Rand Paul, Peter Schiff, and more, and gives you contact information for your representative, along with a sample letter to Congress.
The same government that has piled up trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is not going to fix our health care system with more intervention.
It's time to send Congress a clear message: get out of our health care!
Update: Current reports indicate the vote could be moved to early next week! The pressure is working! Keep those calls going.
Last I heard the vote has been moved to Sunday, I would urge you to write your representatives and remind them that you will be paying attention on how they vote, I recommend firm and no nonsense language, it's crunch time let them know that you're not kidding around on this one.
"Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
—Thomas Jefferson
Campaign for Liberty is a 501(c)4 lobbying organization which neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office and claims no responsibility for the actions of individuals or groups of individuals who use the Campaign for Liberty logo or name or who may claim to act as representatives of the Campaign for Liberty without prior written consent of the Campaign for Liberty. [?]
RSS feed
