WASHINGTON – Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) today released a new issue ad on statewide radio targeting Claire McCaskill for “following the President over a cliff” to support a number of his policies which hurt Missourians.  The ad specifically highlights her recent support of President Obama’s decision to have the government control what services must be provided by religious hospitals and charities.

The new ad, titled “Lemmings and Liberals,” will air through Tuesday for a total buy of $65,000.  The spot can be listened to here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy5eBX7t6XM

“Time and time again Claire McCaskill has followed Barack Obama over a cliff to champion policies that hurt Missouri families from Obamacare to wasteful stimulus spending to special-interest bailouts.  Now, she’s joining him to insert government into our private lives,” said Nate Hodson, Crossroads GPS Director of State and Regional Media Relations.  “This issue ad urges Missourians to contact Claire about her government-knows best mandates which are destroying our freedoms.”

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Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future in the years ahead.

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Nate Hodson at nmhodson@crossroadsgps.org or 202-370-6604.

WASHINGTON – Today, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (GPS) spotlighted a provision in President Obama’s FY 2013 budget that would raise taxes on billions of dollars that Americans contribute to private charities each year, including churches, synagogues, religious hospitals and schools, and other organizations that serve the religious and personal needs of millions of Americans.

President Obama’s proposal to gut the charitable deduction for higher-income taxpayers follows two other Obama Administration challenges to religious institutions in the last several weeks: its controversial requirement that Catholic charities and hospitals provide certain health services against their religious beliefs; and its argument to the U.S. Supreme Court that religious institutions can be forced to hire and retain employees for ministry positions who are not of the same faith.

“President Obama’s budget is another punch in the face to religious charities and institutions that voluntarily serve millions of needy Americans,” said Steven Law, president of Crossroads GPS.  “His administration’s justification is that government money will take the place of private, voluntary contributions. This shows how Obama’s Washington mentality is out of step with mainstream American values.”

BACKROUND: President Obama’s FY 2013 budget effectively raises taxes on churches and private charities by limiting the tax deductions that higher-income individuals can claim on contributions to such organizations. The budget is being released one week after a highly controversial policy where the president tried to require church-affiliated organizations to offer health benefits that violate their deeply held religious beliefs.  And it falls one month after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously repudiated as “remarkable” and “extreme” the Obama Administration’s argument that religious employers should lose their right to decide whom to hire and retain as ministers.  Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, 565 U.S. __ (2012) (slip op. at 14, 19).

Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Jonathan Collegio at jacollegio@crossroadsgps.org or (202) 559-6424.

Tester refused to prevent White House operatives from using insider info to get rich 

WASHINGTON – Jon Tester today embraced the Washington insider culture when he refused to block White House operatives from using their positions to enrich themselves.  Tester opposed an amendment that required stricter ethics standards in the White House and executive branch.

The amendment, which failed in the U.S. Senate today, would have prohibited executive branch appointees or staff from holding positions that give them oversight, rule-making, loan or grant-making abilities over industries or companies in which they or their spouse have a significant financial interest.

“Jon Tester today voted to protect sweetheart deals and influence-peddling in the Obama administration instead of Montana’s taxpayers,” said Crossroads GPS director of state and regional media relations Nate Hodson.  “Tester’s embrace of cronyism demonstrates his willingness to protect President Obama when he should be focused on cleaning up Washington – not encouraging more of the same.”

The Obama administration is under scrutiny for its handling of the Solyndra fiasco, which has been described as “crony capitalism.”  Crossroads GPS is currently airing a TV ad on national cable which details the Solyndra debacle. 

Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Nate Hodson at nmhodson@crossroadsgps.org or (202) 370-6604.

WASHINGTON – Today, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) released a new national TV spot focused on the Obama Administration’s green energy policies, and its handling of the Solyndra scandal.

The ad, which will air on national cable for one week in a $500,000 buy, is the second Solyndra-themed ad by Crossroads GPS this year. The ad can be viewed here.

Solyndra, a now bankrupt solar energy firm, squandered more than $500 million of taxpayer money in Department of Energy grants – a green energy program the Washington Post says was “infused with politics at every level.” President Obama has previously hailed the company as an example of his economic vision, and doubled down on the policies that funded the failed company in his State of the Union speech last week.

Crossroads GPS also released a strategy memo by its president and CEO Steven Law, explaining the spot. In the memo, Law says:

“President Obama views his Solyndra economy as a success – so much so that he advocated doubling down on it in his State of the Union speech. He … simply ignores the sweetheart deals, influence-peddling, incompetence and obsession with photo-ops that define his personally designed economy. … Advocates on the center-right need to engage that debate in both moral and economic terms, showing that Obama’s Washington is an unfair place, and less of Obama’s invasive, free-spending and chronically politicized government is the solution. America has always been the land where “know-how” was the universal pathway to success, prosperity and widespread growth. President Obama’s Solyndra economy would replace that quintessential American model with a government-centered system in which ‘know-who’ automatically trumps ‘know-how.’”

The first Crossroads GPS spot, “Typical,” ran nationwide in December in a similar buy. The ad contended that instead of following through on his promise to change Washington, Obama’s green energy policy emulates the worst of Washington’s typical behavior.

Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future. 

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Jonathan Collegio at jacollegio@crossroadsgps.org or (202) 559-6424.