I found this report from FairTax.org about their visit to the Mackinac Leadership Conference.
- Every other year, the Michigan Republican Party holds a Republican leadership conference on beautiful Mackinac Island. The Island is located in Lake Michigan and is situated in full view of the Mackinac Bridge that connects Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas. Because the presidential primaries are approaching, the candidates identified this as a desirable event to attend to win favor with Michigan Republican leaders and activists. Our objective at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference was to be visible everywhere all the time. We wanted the presidential candidates, their staffs, Republican leaders, activists, and the media to understand the amount of support there is in Michigan for the FairTax. We wanted to be at every conference meeting and hospitality event with our FairTax signs, T-shirts, hats, lapel stick-on labels, bumper stickers, literature, etc. We also wanted to engage attendees in conversation about the FairTax in our effort to educate them, answer questions, and obtain their active support. We especially wanted to inform attendees about the two workshops, "Perspectives on Tax Policy," in which we directly participated. Pat Toomey from the Club for Growth, John Berthoud from the National Taxpayers Union, Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform, Michigan Representative Fulton Sheen, and I served as panelists, and all but Grover Norquist are FairTaxers. I had worked with the Michigan Republican Party to invite most of the panelists. It was an unqualified success! We had the Island and every event covered with FairTax activists identified with signs, T-shirts, hats, lapel stick-on labels, and our tax perspectives workshop was attended by approximately 400 Republican activists (second only in attendance to the Newt Gingrich workshop). At our workshop, the FairTax emerged as the best solution for Michigan and America. Grover was selling his flat income tax and expressed concerns about a national sales tax. I appreciated the opportunity to answer his predictable concerns. It was almost like I had asked him to express his concerns so that I and the other panelists could hit his concerns out of the ballpark -- which we did. Michigan FairTaxers drove great distances and spent their own money and time to participate in this premier political event. All but two presidential candidates attended, and they couldn't miss our organized FairTaxers. I was delighted to have Marilyn Rickert, Rich Johns, and a couple of their volunteers (Beryl Nichols and Barbara Wilson from Illinois and Ohio, respectively) attend to help, as we had to man the vendor tables while covering many simultaneous events. We had about 250 people working with us, and it took every one of them to cover every event in such a way as to have it appear that the FairTax was dominant at every event at the conference.
Many presidential candidates' staff members attended our workshops, and the candidates saw us every time they turned their heads. Jeri Thompson (wife of Fred Thompson) told our state internal communications director that she was impressed by the organization by us at the conference and how polite and nice the FairTax volunteers were. We educated a lot of influential people in Michigan, and many top political leaders now want to meet with us to discuss the FairTax. The supplies provided by AFFT were essential to our visibility and success, and we look forward to continuing to push the FairTax “primary strategy” in Michigan! - Roger Buchholtz
- MI FairTax Director (volunteer)
To read more about the Fair Tax reports click here.
