Americans for Limited Government

Background

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) is a libertarian political advocacy organization that seeks to reduce the size and scope of the government to increase individual freedom. It promotes free enterprise, fiscal responsibility, regulatory reform, and government transparency to members of Congress and state legislatures. ²

ALG has supported reforms to limit eminent domain, strengthen private property rights, reduce taxes, limit government spending, implement school choice programs, limit the power of the judiciary, and mandate government accountability. ³ ALG has stated that its agenda is to roll back government programs and regulations wherever they have “impaired or impinged” individual freedoms. ¹

Former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) previously worked as ALG chairman between his tenure as a U.S. Representative and his election to the U.S. Senate. ⁴

Leadership

Howard Rich was the previous chairman of Americans for Limited Government (ALG). He is also the founder of U.S. Term Limits, an organization which seeks to implement strict term limits for all politicians. A real estate investor in New York, Rich has also served as chairman for the Legislative Education Directive and the Parents in Charge Foundation. Rich was formerly a board member of the Cato Institute and a director at Club for Growth. ^{5 6}

Rick Manning is the president of ALG and the ALG Foundation, its sister charitable organization. ² Manning previously worked as Chief of Staff for Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Labor during the George W. Bush administration. Though conservative, Manning has been critical of free trade agreements often backed by Republicans. ⁷ Manning is associated with the Stop Corporate Tyranny coalition seeking “to get corporate America back to neutral” on political matters. ⁸

Don Todd is the executive advisor for ALG. ² Todd previously worked for the U.S. Department of Labor and for the Republican National Committee (RNC). He was also the research director for the Phil Gramm presidential campaign in 1996. ⁹

Advocacy

After the controversial 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which affirmed the government’s ability to seize private property to give to private developers, Americans for Limited Government (ALG) launched several ballot initiatives to curb state or local governments from engaging in eminent domain abuse. ³

In the 2006 election, ALG worked in Arizona, California, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Oklahoma to propose ballot measures in order to regulate the government’s use of eminent domain. Its petitions in Oklahoma and Missouri did not get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, and a Montana judge determined there was signature fraud and blocked the ALG-supported measure from going to a vote. Of the three states in which ALG successfully placed measures on the ballot, voters in Arizona approved the proposal, but voters in Idaho and California rejected ALG-backed property rights ballot initiatives. ³

ALG has long supported the “taxpayer bill of rights,” a proposal which seeks to place a cap on state spending unless voters directly approve additional programs. The cap would be based on an index of inflation and population growth. The proposal also seeks to allow voters to decide whether the state should be allowed to spend revenue surpluses, save them in “rainy day” funds, or refund taxpayers. In 2006, ALG supported taxpayer bill of rights ballot initiatives in Maine, Nebraska, and Oregon, though voters rejected the measures. ³

Controversies

Americans for Limited Government (ALG) was initially located in Illinois, but it was allegedly pushed out of the state for not complying with state nonprofit laws, according to reporting by the left-of-center Center for Public Integrity. It then relocated to Fairfax, Virginia. ³

In 2012, the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) reported that several nonprofit organizations associated with former ALG chairman Howard Rich operated out of the same Fairfax County address. These included ALG, the ALG Foundation, U.S. Term Limits, the U.S. Term Limits Foundation, Legislative Education Action Drive, and the Parents In Charge Foundation. ¹⁰

The groups reportedly issued grants and loaned money to each other. In 2010, the ALG Foundation gave the Parents In Charge Foundation a grant of $225,000 and the U.S. Term Limits Foundation a grant of $234,000. But the ALG Foundation also owed a debt of $1 million to ALG. ¹⁰