Taxpayers for Liberty Update: Can You Hear the Tumbleweeds a-Blowin’?

I promised that I would continue to follow up on the story of the secretive Taxpayers for Liberty (TFL) and its reportedly underhanded tactics in Colorado’s U.S. Senate race. For review:

• Taxpayers for Liberty: Who Is This Group Playing in the U.S. Senate Race?
• Time to Denounce Taxpayers for Liberty: Sleazy Tactics & Shadowy Group
• Taxpayers for Liberty Update: Larimer County’s Sue Rehg Tells Her Story

After my initial investigation, the group sent out a press release to declare it was now active in other states, for the first time providing contact information other than a Denver P.O. Box to reach their executive director Andrew O’Neill — who we at least confirmed was not a registered voter here in Colorado.

I decided to give Mr. O’Neill and his shadowy group a chance to rebut my initial findings, to balance the story and present some explanations to clear things up. So I left voice messages with both available TFL phone numbers ( and 720-989-1141) and sent emails to both addresses (mail@taxpayersforliberty.com and andrew@taxpayersforliberty.com) with the following questions:

1. How long have you been with Taxpayers for Liberty?
2. How did you become connected with Taxpayers for Liberty?
3. Is Taxpayers for Liberty a Colorado-only operation? If not, exactly what sort of work have you done so far in other target states such as North Dakota, Nevada, Indiana and Louisiana? How long has the group been active in these other states?
4. Were you responsible for sending out the March 5 letter from PO Box 933 Denver attacking candidate Tom Wiens for his record on taxes and candidate Jane Norton for not returning the survey?
5. The Norton campaign says it never received the survey. The Wiens campaign says it had to submit the survey repeatedly before your group acknowledged its receipt. Do you accept these claims or rebut them? If so, how?
6. Has Taxpayers for Liberty taken an active part in any other Colorado primary races? If so, which ones and how?
7. Is Taxpayers for Liberty planning to take an active part in any other Colorado primary races?
8. Are you able to expound on the final paragraph of your press release?: “The group has no ties to the group Campaign for Liberty, which emerged out of the wake of Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency, but O’Neill characterized Paul’s candidacy as an inspiration to young people and the politically disaffected across the nation.”

It’s been a full week, and to no one’s surprise, nothing but the sound of some virtual tumbleweeds a-blowin’ through town…. But hey, if you want to call or email TFL, too, using some or all of the questions I’ve posted (or add a couple of your own), it might make the effort more effective… and fun.

Just yesterday, fellow RMAer Don Johnson noted that “Ken Buck still hasn’t disowned Taxpayers for Liberty’s misleading attack on Jane Norton.” Yes, I find it disappointing that candidate Buck hasn’t denounced the tactics in favor of a cleaner primary election process — especially now that it’s become even more apparent that TFL has no interest in coming out of the shadows to defend or explain itself.

Perhaps Buck is hoping that Taxpayers of Liberty decides to stay under a rock and not re-emerge between now and the August primary. That would be just fine with me. But let me know if you see any more similar TFL activity….