For Immediate Release – Friday, February 19, 2010                                                                                         Contact: Corey R. Lewandowski (603) 894-5881 or (202) 550-7839
E-Mail: CLewandowski@afphq.org

Americans for Prosperity Calls for Phillips Exeter to Rescind Invitation for “Communist” Anthony K. “Van” Jones

Green Communist Van Jones Finally Surfaces ... At Phillips Exeter

WINDHAM─ Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a grassroots free-market group, today called upon Phillips Exeter to rescind their invitation of Anthony K. “Van” Jones.  This will be “Van” Jones’ first public appearances since he resigned as White House special green jobs adviser for his extreme views on 9/11, and it is right here at Phillips Exeter Academy on February 22.

Exeter describes Jones as an “award-winning human rights and clean energy economy pioneer,” and that “globally recognized, Jones will lead an evening talk and discussion about ‘green jobs’.”

Van Jones is a self-professed communist.  In 2005 he explained his radicalization following the Rodney King verdict to the alternative San Francisco newspaper the East Bay Express: “I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th.  By August, I was a communist.”  He went on to say that he had changed only his means, not his objectives: “I'm willing to forgo the cheap satisfaction of the radical pose for the deep satisfaction of radical ends.”

In April of 2008 Jones explained to “Uprising Radio” that his push for green jobs was the kernel of a broader movement to destroy our capitalist economic system: “From 1964 to 1968 complete revolution was on the table for this country. And, I think that this green movement has to pursue those same steps and stages. Right now we say we want to move from suicidal gray capitalism to something eco-capitalism where at least we're not fast-tracking the destruction of the whole planet. Will that be enough? No, it won't be enough. We want to go beyond the systems of exploitation and oppression altogether.”

Jones even signed the 9/11 truth petition, blaming George Bush for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  When Jones’s “truther” past came to light, he resigned in disgrace.  He was too radical even for the Obama administration that wants government control of health care, energy, and Wall Street.

Now the “green jobs pioneer” is back peddling that same kernel of the destruction of our free-market economy.  These programs don’t create job growth, but the verdict from Europe is that they are, unfortunately, deadly effective at laying the seeds of destruction of our market system.  A trio of compelling studies from the Houston-based Institute for Energy Research reveals the facts.

In Germany, per worker subsidies for the solar industry now top $240K.  The price of electricity has jumped 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, a 19.4% increase relative to average U.S. prices.  In Denmark wind subsidies cost taxpayers $376M a year.  Each Danish “green job” costs taxpayers $90K to $140K per year, which is 175-percent of country's average manufacturing wage.  Despite all these subsidies, Denmark has the highest electricity prices in the European Union.  Most significantly, in Spain, long touted as the model for Obama's policies, each “green job” created has destroyed on average 2.2 other jobs elsewhere in the economy.  Since 2000, Spain has spent over $750K in subsidies for every “green job” created, and now has a 19.5 percent unemployment rate and is at risk of defaulting on its national debt.

“Exeter should be free to host whatever radical speakers it chooses, but billing Van Jones as anything but an enemy of markets and avowed Communist is academic malfeasance, stated Corey R. Lewandowski, State Director of Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire.  “The lessons from Europe are so stark that Exeter can’t possibly believe these expensive programs will improve our economy.  We know what Van Jones really believes—that economically ruinous subsidies, preferences, and make-work programs are a step towards total destruction of our free-market economy.  We can only hope that part of his ideology is discussed at Exeter,” Lewandowski concluded.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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