"History is on our side here," said Christopher O'Connor, executive director of Citizens for a Better Brookhaven, which has joined the campaign.

"These guys get paid even if they lose," said Robert S. McIntyre, the director of Citizens for Tax Justice, which opposes any big tax cut.

Marie Sturgis, executive director of Citizens for Life, said his donation had no influence on her group, which has an annual budget of about $600,000.

"I think he's doing a terrible job," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan nonprofit group.

Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, has calculated that the average corporation paid taxes of about 18 percent in 2004.

Barbara Anderson, executive director of Citizens for Limited Taxation, said the increased override attempts show that the tax-limiting measure is working as intended.

At the board's meeting yesterday, directors of Citizens and Southern amended the company's bylaws to make a takeover more difficult.

"Congress cut taxes on rich people in 1997," Robert McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonprofit Washington organization with labor union backing, said.

Timothy C. Ryan, executive director of Citizens for Better Medicare, said, "The advertisements are fair and accurate, and the debate is just getting under way."

Last weekend, the directors of Concerned Citizens voted to oppose incorporation.