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  • Voters’ Dilemma in New House District 200: RepRabb or Izzy Fitzgerald?

    The following blog was written May 2, 2022 by Maurice Sampson II, a fellow Democratic Committeeperson in Philadelphia, PA. Reprinted with permission.

    I live in Mount Airy and received a very confusing postcard the other day calling for the re-election of State Representative Isabella Fitzgerald in the 200th legislative district. Wait a minute. I live in the 200th legislative district. Rep.Chris Rabb has been my representative since 2017 so how can I be “re-electing” Isabella Fitzgerald?

    Rep. Rabb has been amazingly responsive to the needs in House District (HD) 200 and a leader in the State Legislature on the issues important to me. Why are State Senator Art Haywood, Congressman Dwight Evans, Ninth District City Councilmember Cherelle Parker, and other elected officials I respect supporting a woman I’ve never met, and against Rep. Rabb – a man who has earned my trust and respect as my State Representative?

    It took me more than a couple of hours of research but I figured it out. Here’s what’s going on:

    Legislative redistricting is pitting two competent elected officials against each other. Rep. Fitzgerald has been the elected representative from HD203 since 2016, the same time Chris Rabb was elected in neighboring HD200. Redistricting shifted the boundaries, annexing 16 Divisions of the former HD 203, including where Rep Fitzgerald resides, into HD200. No longer a resident of the District, Rep. Fitzgerald is not eligible to represent HD203. Contrary to her campaign literature, she is not running for re-election. She is the challenger and Rep Rabb is the incumbent in HD 200.

    Representative Isabella Fitzgerald is a long-time and beloved Philadelphia Democratic Party stalwart. Chris Rabb is an independent, progressive Democrat who does not toe the line for the Philadelphia Democratic Party. He has and continues to be targeted for defeat. In addition, Representative Fitzgerald is also the Democratic Ward leader in the 10th Ward, a former staffer to Congressman Dwight Evans, and was elected to replace Evans in the HD203, when Evans was elected to Congress. Her support also includes Bob Brady, Chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, and Ward Leaders whose geography comprises the HD200 and the part of the 4th State Senatorial District that lies in Northwest Philadelphia, represented by progressive Haywood, who is also up for re-election. He must support Fitzgerald or commit political suicide. It is a devious and brilliant strategy that offers the greatest challenge to date to Chris Rabb’s formidable campaign organization. Chris can win if his base remains loyal and turns out to vote in high numbers. It is likely to be a close race.

    (more…)

  • Updating NJ Legislature Page

    There are a number of new faces in Trenton this month. There are four new faces in the State Senate and sixteen in the Assembly. The NJ Legislature page which has been online since 1994 – prior to the legislature’s own website – is in the process of adding these names and contact informaton. Please be patient, if not consult https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/.

    The newly sworn in Senate and Assembly members are:

    • Senator Edward Durr (R-03)
    • Senator Jean Stanfield (R-08)
    • Senator Andrew Zwicker (D-16)
    • Senator Jon Bramnick (R-21)
    • Senator Gordon Johnson (D-37)
    • Assemblyman Don Guardian (R-02)
    • Assemblywoman Claire Swift (R-02)
    • Assemblywoman Bethanne McCarthy Patrick (R-03)
    • Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer (R-03)
    • Assemblyman Michael Torrissi Jr. (R-08)
    • Assemblyman Brandon Umba (R-08)
    • Assemblywoman Kimberly Eulner (R-11)
    • Assemblywoman Marilyn Piperno (R-11)
    • Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (R-13)
    • Assemblywoman Sadaf Jaffer (D-16)
    • Assemblyman Reginald Atkins (D-20)
    • Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis (R-21)
    • Assemblyman Christian Barranco (R-26)
    • Assemblyman William Sampson IV (D-31)
    • Assemblywoman Shama Haider (D-37)
    • Assemblywoman Ellen Park (D-37)

    Please contact me with any new district office contact information you have.

  • Help With Tax Preparation

    The Earned Income Tax Credit -EITC – is perhaps the best safety net program I’ve ever known. Actually, it is part of the tax code. Nonetheless, I have written about it in nine of the past twelve years in this blog. This year I’ll try to keep it simple.

    Millions of taxpayers don’t get an EITC credit for a number of reasons. They don’t know about it, they are perhaps paying income tax for the first time, or because tax preparation is way too complicated or expensive.

    There is free tax software, if you read the fine print. Remember, the devil is in the details. Here are a couple tax assistance programs and how to access them. The first is Free File, a partnership between tax software companies and the IRS. This is the fine print you will read on the Free File website:

    IRS Free File lets you prepare and file your federal income tax online for free. File at an IRS partner site with the IRS Free File Program or use Free File Fillable Forms. It’s safe, easy and no cost to you for a federal return. 

    To receive a free federal tax return, you must select an IRS Free File provider from the Browse All Offers page or your Online Lookup Tool results. Once you click your desired IRS Free File provider, you will leave the IRS.gov website and land on the IRS Free File provider’s website. Then, you must create an account at the IRS Free File provider’s website accessed via Irs.gov to prepare and file your return.  Please note that an account created at the same provider’s commercial tax preparation website does NOT work with IRS Free File: you MUST access the provider’s Free File site as instructed above.

    The other is MyFreeTaxes. United Way provides MyFreeTaxes in partnership with the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.

    Local, county, and state government need to do more to spread the word. A number of organizations provide outreach tool kits to enable effective outreach campaigns. Let’s reach those who need the help the most. Participate on EITC Awareness Day, the last Friday in January.

    There is a conspiracy that prevents tax filing from being easy. K Street lobbyist prevent IRS from sending out partially-prepared tax forms to each taxpayer. Do a web search: “lobbyist oppose free IRS tax software”. Write your Members of Congress to ask why.

    My Earned Income Tax Credit page has been updated for the 2021 tax season to include up-to-date EITC income-eligibility guidelines plus links to programs mentioned above.