Anti Grover Norquist Movement Reaches Almost 1500 Members from Throughout the United States

Fairfield, CT, December 26, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The mission of Groverno.com is to provide a counter balance to the fear that political candidates face in primary and general elections when they have refused to sign Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

GroverNo will use its membership database to activate opposition to candidates who have signed the pledge, at the appropriate time, in future elections. The website promises never to share email addresses with anyone for any reason. Unlike Grover Norquist’s website, all members’ names, cities and states are listed on the website. According to its founder, Larry Merriam, by the time of the next mid-term elections in 2014, at the current sign up rate the organization will have over 20,000 committed members.

Grover Norquist is a conservative lobbyist who has founded a powerful organization called Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The central focus of ATR is to strongly urge mainly Republican candidates and members of Congress, as well as other state and local politicians, to sign what is known as Taxpayer Protection Pledge. In the pledge signer agrees to one, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and two, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing taxes.

According to Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg News "if you cross Grover Norquist you will face a primary challenge from the right." Accordingly the founder of GroverNo asserts that it is the fear of retribution that drives Grover Norquist loyalists to remain loyal to him.

According to a recent article in Op-Ed news, in 2010 approximately 66% or about $8.1 million dollars of ATR’s budget for that year came from two billionaire backed back organizations, The Center to Protect Patients’ Rights and Crossroads GPS. Big tobacco and the big pharmaceutical companies are funding these organizations. If you do the math, that would make the annual budget of ATR more than $12 million dollars.

Former President George H.W. Bush recently said “The rigidity of these pledges is something I don’t like. Circumstances change and you can’t be wedded to some formula by Grover Norquist.” Bush’s son, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush refused to sign the pledge on several occasions stating that "it is basically outsourcing your Constitutional responsibility to Grover Norquist."

Groverno.org is privately funded by its founder, Larry Merriam of Fairfield County, Connecticut. No financial contributions of any kind are sought.

GroverNo.org asserts that the operative word in Washington for the past several years has been gridlock. At the root of the gridlock is the refusal of those who have signed the Grover Norquist pledge to compromise or negotiate. Compromise and negotiation has been what has made our government effective. Without such compromise, we are at a deadlock and it puts both our economy and national security at grave risk, according to Merriam. Look at the recent past where our government has been shut down, causing havoc in our markets, causing our debt rating to decline. It all could have been avoided if people were willing to work together. We are now facing another major inflection point with the approaching fiscal cliff and I worry that those who have signed Grover’s pledge will once again bring us harm.

Merriam further said, "I am a non-partisan independent voter. I want lower taxes. I want less government spending. I also want a vibrant economy. In order to accomplish this we need our elected official to bring their brain and common sense to Washington. Those who have signed the pledge, as Jeb Bush so eloquently stated have outsourced their Constitutional duty to Grover Norquist."