Forgotten Taxpayers PAC

Press Release

Contact: Clay Johnson
Email: ForgottenTaxpayers@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

March 31, 2023

Richmond, RI – The Forgotten Taxpayers’ PAC calls on the Rhode Island Board of Elections to investigate the very likely illegally acquired, and misuse of, donations to the ‘Friends of Chariho for the Future’ organization.  This organization with a history of blatant disregard for taxpayers and the law recently used these donations to fund a mailer in support of higher taxes on residents in Hopkinton, Richmond, and Charlestown. A similar effort was shown to be against Rhode Island election law when it was done by the same group in 2017. Standard language, required by Rhode Island law, such as citing their top five donors was omitted from their mailing.

Today, the Forgotten Taxpayers’ PAC, an organization dedicated to fiscal responsibility and keeping the taxpayers at the forefront of all decisions, contacted the Rhode Island Board of Elections to register their objection to this ‘Friends of Chariho for the Future’ mailing.

Two prior press releases by the Forgotten Taxpayers have questioned the legality of collecting tax-deductible donations by ‘Friends of Chariho for the Future’. The Forgotten Taxpayers PAC has asked the leadership of the Friends of Chariho to provide proof of their federal non-profit status.  Last week, ‘Friends of Chariho for the Future’ espoused their “non-profit” status all over social media by providing a copy of their non-profit designation from the State of RI Secretary of State. 

However, that particular status only exempts ‘Friends of Chariho for the Future’ from paying state sales tax.  It does not allow them to tout a federal tax-deductible status. These charges were answered with generic ‘we follow the law’ pablum. The Forgotten Taxpayers’ PAC can only assume this confident brushoff is fueled by their prior experience of skirting the law, defying fines and fees, and simply renaming themselves to break the law again.

In addition to the fundraising missteps, ‘Friends of Chariho’ have likely violated campaign expenditure rules. If our accusations are accurate, this “gang that can’t shoot straight” clearly does not have the respect for the law needed to trust their advice on how to spend $64 million dollars – the amount of the “all-in” school budget which the Chariho voters will be asked to support on Tuesday, April 4^th in an all-day referendum.

Clay Johnson, speaking on behalf of Forgotten Taxpayers stated,

“Directors  of this group were asked to document their federal non-profit status, and if no such status existed, our PAC asked them to return donations immediately. We have since learned that this group has funded a mass mailing – a mailing which may be illegal – asking Chariho voters to support a bloated budget.” 

Johnson added “Moreover, Friends of Chariho for the Future have spent time and money to make sure that you spend more on a government school that seems hell-bent on implementing the warped curriculum being pushed by the RIDE. I would encourage them to donate their time and money to Chariho rather than compel, through force of taxation, their neighbors to pay more for an already well-funded school system.”

As stated previously, ‘Friends of Chariho’ needs to comply with the laws of Rhode Island regulating the participation in an election process.  We question their judgment, apparent disregard for the law, and their desire to do the right thing for the many struggling families of Chariho.

The Forgotten Taxpayers PAC is committed to its goal of leading a grassroots effort to champion and promote fiscal responsibility, keeping the taxpayers at the forefront of all decisions relative to town and school spending.

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