Letter to the New York Times
Below is a letter that Club President Pat Toomey submitted to the New York Times.
To the Editor:
Your editorial yesterday (“Drowning in Special-Interest Money”) describes the Club for Growth as a “narrow political lobb[y],” but the Club for Growth’s 40,000-plus membership represents a wide spectrum of Americans from every state and innumerable backgrounds. Unlike special-interest groups that seek to promote a small group at the expense of the larger public and contrary to your caricature of the Club as “tax-phobic,” the Club for Growth promotes policies that will lead to greater economic growth for all Americans, including lower, simpler taxes; less wasteful government spending; free trade; deregulation; and school choice—in short, economic freedom. In fact, the only Americans who would not benefit from the economic freedom we advocate would be the narrow special interests who attempt to secure special advantages from government on the backs of American taxpayers.
Your editorial also sadly calls for further restrictions on our—but not your—constitutionally guaranteed right to political free speech. You hold your own right to praise, criticize, endorse, and reject candidates as inviolate, yet our political speech should be kept “under control” by congress, regulations, and the courts. We prefer an America in which both of our organizations have a right to free speech.
Pat Toomey
President, Club for Growth
2001 L Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
212-955-5500
