Concerned Taxpayers Group forms PAC (School board and other races)

I'm taking my partisan hat off here for a moment. I recently said that a winning organization is going to make a comeback. The Concerned Taxpayers' Group is back!

From the Argus

Another group has taken the unusual step of forming a political action committee that will, in part, try to influence the May 2 school elections.
The Concerned Taxpayers Group — which last year spoke out against a proposed property tax that officials in the county's five school districts called a "survival millage" — has registered as an official PAC that will concentrate on several races this year, including the races for school boards, according to PAC Chairman Bill Johnston.

First up on the group's agenda is holding 20-minute interviews with candidates running for the school boards in Hartland, Brighton, Pinckney and Howell.

The group plans on announcing its endorsed candidates April 6.
"We feel (with) the school board candidates, this endorsement process has just been forgotten about in the county and voters are really looking for assistance from groups like ours," said Johnston, a Cohoctah Township resident. "What we're really after is finding candidates who are fiscally responsible that wouldn't support unnecessary taxation."

This PAC is sorely needed. While the countywide enhancement millage failed 2-1, that did not end the problem. It was the fiscal irresponsibility that put the schools into the situation iin the first place. All of us in the Concerned Taxpayers' Group understand this, so we formed a PAC about two weeks ago.

Being a Republican is not an advantage and being a Democrat is not a disadvantage to getting the Concerned Taxpayers' Group endorsement. We don't ask party affiliation in our interviews, and our PAC committee is multipartisan. That's not to mention that several Republican school board members pushed for the millage last year, and at least one democrat letter to the editor writer opposed it.

We will conduct our interviews, ask our questions, look at statements and any voting records if applicable. From there, we will make our endorsement decisions.

The Concerned Taxpayers' Group is not going to limit this to schools. All levels of government need to have taxpayers' groups as watchdogs. Fiscal responsibility at all levels needs to be praised. Fiscal mismanagement at all levels needs to be discouraged. I'd like to see our group become a force every May, August, and November.