Activists Gone GooGoo

Changing times: Citizens for Limited Taxation, a group that has been a factor in Massachusetts politics since the 1970s, has expanded its mission. Executive Director Barbara Anderson has merged her operations with those of long-time activist Chip Ford, yielding the new organization Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government (CLT&G).

The new acronym doesn’t roll quite as easily off the tongue, as was noted by WRKO talk radio veteran Jerry Williams shortly after the announcement. On the air with Anderson and Beacon Hill observer Bob Katzen in December, Williams couldn’t get used to the new name. CLT…G? he asked. “CLT&G,” Anderson said.

“It flows,” said Katzen.

“It doesn’t flow for me,” Williams said.

Williams, who has made a career of being cantankerous, needled Anderson with the possibility the new name could be misunderstood. Is it Citizens for Limited Taxation and (limited) Government? Or could it be Citizens for Limited Taxation, and (for) Government?

With years of anti-government activism between them, Anderson and Ford’s intentions will not likely be mistaken. They hope to promote limited government by drafting a ballot proposition for 1998 to roll back the 1994 legislative pay raise and to shorten the length of the legislative sessions.

It was work on the unsuccessful Coalition for Payraise Repeal (CPR) last year that brought them closer together–and got them thinking of merging, as it turns out, more than just their operations. “In the process of working on this coalition, we noticed we were in love,” Anderson told us recently. Anderson, who is twice divorced, admitted a new romance was not something she expected. But people grow. So who knows? Further evolution could result in Anderson and Ford smoothing out their new acronym. How about CGG–Citizens for Good Government?

Just an idea.