NoGovInternet.com Announces Campaign to Alert Utahns about Government-Owned and Controlled Internet

In a press release, NoGovInternet.com announced the launch of a statewide campaign to oppose the expansion of government-owned broadband networks. NoGovInternet.com launched this campaign on TV and radio. It will continue to inform and educate Utahns, including outreach via digital ads, direct mail, and other multi-channel communications.

When the government owns and operates your broadband network, it controls the backbone of the internet. Putting local government in control of the speed and flow of information and personal data of its citizens poses real threats to personal freedoms and liberties, and it puts taxpayer dollars at risk. 

Nearly 80% of Utah’s residents are seeing their quality of life decrease while their cost of living increases. Utah cities are struggling every day to address population growth in urban and suburban areas while rural Utah continues to struggle to stay afloat with shrinking opportunities and population. 

Local government serves citizens best when focusing on growth-related issues such as traffic congestion, scarce water resources, crime, and public safety. Government should smartly partner with the private sector, but when government chooses to compete with, or worse, replace the private sector, it can be catastrophic for generations.

The failed experiments of iProvo and UTOPIA are Utah’s case studies for cities that have veered too far from their core duties and the proper role of government. UTOPIA is a union of city governments that have taxpayers foot the bill, putting public dollars at risk. They do this while competing with and replacing services from private providers. 

Former Speaker of the House Greg Hughes will be spearheading this important effort, delivering the information, and opening the black box behind Utah’s government takeover of broadband networks. 

“I’ve spent over 15 years in public service and have campaigned for office ten times. I have never met a single person who said they wanted the government to own and control their internet service,” Hughes said. 

“I look forward to getting good information that drives good decisions to city leaders, thought leaders, the media, and the taxpayers of Utah. If we see the day when cities have conquered the challenges of growth, water, parks, public safety, and other pressing core duties, they still should not become ‘entrepreneurs’ with their constituents’ tax dollars.”

The Domestic Policy Caucus encourages everyone to join the campaign at www.NoGovInternet.com. 

View NoGovInternet.com’s first television ad: “Not What They Do”

NoGovInternet.com on FOX13 in Salt Lake City: New TV ads go after UTOPIA and other government-run internet providers

A new TV ad is running in Utah, criticizing government-run internet providers.

The ads are part of a $1 million blitz to warn about problems associated with municipal internet systems, including high costs and a lack of regulatory oversight. The Domestic Policy Caucus is running them under the name NoGovInternet.com.

Watch and read the full story here.

Mass Priorities Letter to the Editor Appears in the Enterprise Newspapers: “Government-Owned Broadband Unreliable.”

A letter to the editor from Mass Priorities in the Enterprise newspaper chain, “Government-Owned Broadband Unreliable,” evaluates the risks and unreliability of Government-Owned Broadband.

In part, the letter says, “Government-owned broadband networks have proven time and again to be high-risk ventures where the risk lies solely with taxpayers rather than network operators. The failures of government-owned networks have already put taxpayers in Massachusetts on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.”

Read the full letter here.

NoGovInternet Launches Campaign Against Government-Owned Broadband in Utah

Today, NoGovInternet.com announced a campaign to defend Utahans from the unneeded, unwanted expansion of government-owned networks like UTOPIA. City-run networks put taxpayers, city budgets, bond-ratings, and consumers at risk.

In a press statement, the campaign said, “The track record of these government-owned networks is disrupted service, higher taxes and fees, lower government bond ratings, years-long wait times, and fleeced taxpayers. Oftentimes, these assets are sold off to private companies for pennies per tax dollar invested.”

“Despite the failure of these city-owned networks, some bureaucrats and politicians continue to seek city, state, and federal tax dollars on a big-government agenda to own the network.’ When government owns the network, it also owns the internet. This is an affront to our principles of free market capitalism and poses a threat to our individual liberties and personal freedoms.”

“Over the course of the next six weeks, we will run a seven-figure statewide media campaign to educate the public on the failure of these government-owned networks and the dangers of a government-owned internet. We are appealing to citizens, activists of all political parties, elected officials, thought leaders, think tanks – indeed, everyone who believes that the private marketplace is more reliable, capable, and dependable to manage a free, safe and secure internet than cities and government bureaucracy.”

No Gov Internet’s first television ad can be viewed here: “Not What They Do”

More information is available at NoGovInternet.com.

The Enterprise Newspaper: Mass Priorities Launches Ads Discouraging Town-Owned Networks

The Enterprise newspaper network reported today that Mass Priorities launched ads discouraging town-owned networks in Massachusetts.

Read or listen to the story here.

Mass Priorities Launches First Ads

Mass Priorities says local governments should focus on bridges and water, not unneeded, unwanted government-owned internet networks.

Mass Priorities launched its first in a series of ads today, urging town governments on Cape Cod to invest in bridges and water utilities, not government-owned networks. The launch is part of a $500,000 + statewide media push over the next three months.

“Local governments have finite resources and need to set priorities,” said Mass Priorities Policy Director Christopher Thrasher. “Across the Commonwealth, we need to spend more on improving our schools and less on pet projects that don’t move the needle for our communities. On the Cape, we need to invest our limited dollars on bridges, wastewater treatment, and other vital infrastructure projects, not waste dollars on costly and unneeded government-owned internet networks.”

The ad buy includes cable television, radio, digital, out-of-home, and print media on the Cape to educate the public on the needs of the region and is timed to lay the groundwork for critical discussions about priorities ahead of Town Meetings in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024.     

“The track record of government-owned networks is very clear,” continued Thrasher. “They compete with other local priorities, put taxpayers at risk, and end up being sold to private sector companies for pennies on the dollar. We know that taxpayers want public dollars invested in roads and bridges, schools, and water treatment. We are urging policymakers across the commonwealth to put critical infrastructure needs before expensive pet projects.”

Ads will begin to air on Tuesday, October 31, and run through the end of the year. In addition to Cape Cod, the campaign will also run in Boston and communities across Western Massachusetts.  

See the ad, “Cape Priorities,” from Mass Priorities, a project of the Domestic Policy Caucus, here.

“Mass Priorities” Launches to Ensure Massachusetts Municipalities Invest in Community Essentials Over Risky, Capital-Intensive Projects

Mass Priorities Policy Director Christopher Thrasher announced the launch of Mass Priorities, a coalition of concerned Massachusetts residents advocating for smart, responsible use of taxpayer dollars by local elected officials.

“Mass Priorities is a campaign to prevent the misuse of taxpayer money across Massachusetts,” Thrasher said in a press release. “We will be working across the commonwealth’s 351 municipalities to educate residents about projects in their communities that would drain municipal budgets without providing real value to communities. Mass Priorities is committed to working with policymakers and local governments to prioritize government spending on real community necessities like fixing our roads and bridges, funding schools and public safety, and upgrading our wastewater management.”

Thrasher continued, “Our campaign is about security and priorities. It’s shocking that in some towns, local officials are discussing spending more than entire annual budgets for schools, public safety, veterans, senior services, and town facilities — all on pet projects that residents do not want or need.

“In Northampton, officials for years have pushed a fanciful ‘Picture Main Street’ redesign that would cost the city more than $20 million despite well-founded concerns from the residents and small businesses that will be impacted. This is all happening while Northampton public schools had to tap into emergency funds to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit.

“That story echoes across Massachusetts. In Falmouth, officials have proposed spending upwards of $55 million on a risky, unneeded government-owned broadband network; that is more than the entire annual budget for Falmouth schools, 160 times greater than what has been allocated for veterans’ benefits, and 95 times more than what is earmarked for senior services.”

“The bottom line,” Thrasher said, “is that we need our elected officials to prioritize critical infrastructure needs like bridges and water-treatment facilities, instead of taking on unneeded, unwanted, and unreliable pet projects like government-owned broadband or unwanted street redesigns.”

Mass Priorities will begin an expansive multi-channel advertising and awareness initiative this week to draw attention to risky projects in communities across the state and urge responsible governance.

Domestic Policy Caucus Appears on WWTC The Patriot Radio’s Jack Tomczak Show Live from the State Fair to Promote No Fuel Ban Campaign

Domestic Policy Caucus Secretary/Treasurer Kent Kaiser, Ph.D., appeared on WWTC The Patriot Radio’s Jack Tomczak Show, which was broadcasting live from the Minnesota Republican Party building at the State Fair.

Kaiser talked about the vehicle and liquid-fuel bans being discussed at the state and federal levels of government and the campaign that the Domestic Policy Caucus is waging to educate the public and to persuade policymakers.

At the State Fair, the Domestic Policy Caucus deployed street teams to distribute hand fans that said, “NOT A Fuel Ban Fan – NoFuelBan.com,” and engaged in aerial advertising with a plane flying overhead and trailing a banner saying, “DON’T BAN MN FUELS & TRUCKS – NOFUELBAN.COM.”

To catch Kaiser’s discussion with the hosts of the Jack Tomczak Show, listen to the first segment here.

Domestic Policy Caucus Spreads Awareness of No Fuel Ban Campaign at Minnesota State Fair

The Domestic Policy Caucus is active at the Minnesota State Fair on behalf of our No Fuel Ban Campaign. The No Fuel Ban street team has distributed thousands of hand fans to attendees, spread awareness to stakeholders like the Minnesota GOP and The Libertarian Party of Minnesota, discussed the campaign with U.S. and state representatives, and had a plane circling the airspace with a banner reading, “Don’t Ban MN Fuels and Trucks.” 

The No Fuel Ban street team even caught the attention of The Daily Reformer. In a recent update, a Minnesota Reformer reporter stated, “I’m also keeping an eye on NoFuelBan, a pro-ethanol, pro-gasoline, anti-electric car campaign that had a large presence at the fair. As I arrived, a plane circled overhead with a banner for the campaign, and I spotted several fans with the campaign’s logo throughout the fair.” The piece then went on to challenge Democrats to “square their ambitious climate goals with their support for corn ethanol."

It is safe to say the No Fuel Ban Campaign is being recognized by many people across the state, including local policymakers. 

For more information about the No Fuel Ban campaign and to sign our petition to policymakers, go to NoFuelBan.com.

Domestic Policy Caucus Appears on KLTF UpFront Radio Show to Discuss the No Fuel Ban Campaign and the Presence at the Minnesota State Fair

Secretary/Treasurer Kent Kaiser, Ph.D, recently appeared on the KLTF UpFront radio show to discuss the Domestic Policy Caucus No Fuel Ban campaign. More information regarding the costs and effects of liquid fuel bans can be found at NoFuelBan.com. These bans are being proposed at both federal and state levels, including Minnesota. Our campaign draws attention to how American-grown fuels, such as Minnesota ethanol, biodiesel, gasoline, and diesel, are the backbones of our communities. 

A liquid fuel ban would harm not only farmers and biofuel producers, but the entire agriculture industry. The Domestic Policy Caucus will be attending the Minnesota State Fair starting tomorrow to spread awareness of the proposed ban.

Contact your elected officials and make your voice heard by signing our No Fuel Ban petition here.