Give this to Republican Assemblyman Scott Hammond (Las Vegas), he’s got stones.
In a mailer for his campaign to move up to the state Senate that hit doorsteps last week, Hammond, a government employee/public school teacher (union member?) who voted in the last session to water down the state’s graduation standards, wrote the following:
“I expect the highest degree of honesty and integrity of my children and my students, and I pledge the same to the people I represent in the state legislature.”
The mailer includes the headline “STOP THE TAX HIKES.” (Click here to see a copy of the mailer at a website set up by an unidentified third-party)
Under “Stop the Tax Hikes,” Hammond writes:
“The worst thing we can do in this economy is raise taxes on families and small businesses. So when the tax and spenders in Carson City demand more of our money…Scott Hammond will say NO.”
So much for “honesty and integrity” from Scott Hammond. Here’s why:
When running for the state Assembly in 2010, Hammond refused to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which promises the voters of his district and the people of Nevada that he will “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
When asked why he refused to sign the Pledge, Hammond declared the following in a public forum on May 10, 2010:
“I want people to look at me and if I tell them I won’t raise your taxes I want them to understand that I won’t. You know, I walk up to my commitments and I keep them. When I tell you face-to-face that I’m not going to raise taxes, I don’t think I have to sign a piece of paper to prove it.”
Well, apparently he does.
You see, despite now claiming in his mailer that “the worst thing we can do in this economy is raise taxes on families and small businesses,” that’s EXACTLY what Hammond did in the last legislative session. In fact, he voted to raise taxes on families and businesses to the tune of a whopping $620 million!
“Honesty and integrity”? Puh-lease.
You know, political discourse these days is pretty harsh, and I really do try not to call politicians liars when what we’re really talking about is simply a philosophical difference of opinion, not an outright stated falsehood. But there’s just no way around it and no way to sugarcoat it on this one:
Scott Hammond was purposely deceitful in his mailer; he told demonstrable untruths.
By the way, Hammond is being challenged in the Republican primary for this Senate seat by conservative Assemblyman Richard McArthur who not only has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but voted against the tax hike in the last session. Hammond may have the money and the special interest endorsements, but it’s McArthur who has the honesty and integrity.
