FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Contact: Jessica Tramontana, jessica@progressmichigan.org, 517-974-6302

Tea Party leader Scott Hagerstrom tells crowd about plan for “hand-to-hand combat”

LANSING – On January 15 at a “Citizens Watchdog Training” sponsored by Tea Party advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, AFP’s state director Scott Hagerstrom outlined the group’s plans to fight grassroots efforts to put RTW on the ballot or recall lawmakers, saying “I call it hand-to-hand combat with Michigan citizens.”

“It’s troubling how often Scott Hagerstrom returns to evoking violence when he talks about people who disagree with him,” said Zack Pohl, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “After the last two years of constant attacks on middle-class families, Michigan citizens deserve to know who is really setting the agenda for Lansing politicians.”

In February 2011, Hagerstrom addressed a panel in Washington, DC at the Conservative Political Action Conference, discussing his plans to “take the unions out at the knees” in Michigan. He explained these tactics were necessary because Americans for Prosperity couldn’t hope to spend as much as labor unions on organizing and advocacy.

Americans for Prosperity is a conservative organization based in Arlington, Virginia and chaired by billionaire oil heir David H. Koch.

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BACKGROUND:

Video of Scott Hagerstrom talking to CPAC in 2011 about taking unions out at the knees can be viewed here.

Audio of Scott Hagerstrom talking at an AFP event on January 15 can be heard here.

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