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Erica Klemens Of Americans For Prosperity New Jersey: We Give Activists A Voice In Their Community

By Chris Stigall

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Erica L. Klemens, State Director of Americans for Prosperity Foundation of New Jersey spoke with Talk Radio 1210 WPHT morning host Chris Stigall about some of the company's most recent victories across the country.

 

"The last big win was actually in Wisconsin moving the state right to work. There's also been ending the practice of unionization in Missouri and Kentucky, we've had landmark pension reform in Oklahoma an that's something that we would personally really like to see here in New Jersey. There are some pension reform proposals on the table. We've seen paycheck protection, protecting workers from being forced to pay union dues in Oklahoma and we've seen a lot of education in school choice reform, particularly in Kansas and Maine."

Klemens feels that part of the reason that they've been so successful in other parts of the country is the way that they act on each local issue. She feels that their new "Ambassador Program" further improves that.

"Ambassadors will participate on a monthly activist phone call. They can communicate about public policy issues in their community. That's what we really want to hear about. If there is a local property tax fight in your town, if there is a local school choice issue in your town, we want to hear about it, because then we can form teams of activists to progress a solid public policy that the public wants...We have over 103 thousand activists state wide in New Jersey."

She reaffirmed that the best way for them to be successful is by giving their activists a "real voice" in their communities.

"We're going to have activist tool kits. We're going to be educating the public on how they can contact their legislators and really have an impactful voice. Not just some letter that goes into a mailbox, but actually having a voice, because when we come out in numbers—that's when things are really start to change and I like I said, we've seen it in other states, Wisconsin most recently."

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