I had a subscriber ask me this week why I wasn’t doing more to help GOP assembly candidate Wes Duncan in his race against Democrat Assembly Speaker-in-Waiting Marcus Conklin. And the answer is quite simple: He hasn’t signed the Tax Pledge.
Sorry, folks…but that’s a litmus test for me this year.
I got burned BADLY taking the verbal word of Sen. Bill Raggio in the 2008 campaign that he wouldn’t raise taxes, and again by Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2010. Any candidate not willing to put his signature on his promise not to raise my taxes – the way he or she puts their signature on car loan or even for a purchase by credit card at WalMart – isn’t sufficiently committed to protecting MY money.
And I will remind everyone once again that not one Republican legislator who voted for the re-imposition of that $620 million tax hike in 2011 had signed the Tax Pledge. On the other hand, every Republican legislator who signed the Tax Pledge voted against that tax hike.
As for Republican candidates who are saying they won’t sign the Tax Pledge because certain lobbyists have told them that if they sign the Pledge they won’t get a contribution, if they are willing to cave in and sell out their principles to lobbyists BEFORE they get elected, what are they going to do when the heat gets turned up in Carson City AFTER they get elected?
Now, I understand that many of you are perfectly willing to roll the dice on Mr. Duncan. That’s fine. I’m not. I’ve been fooled too many times by verbal assurances from “my-word-is-my-bond” politicians…and won’t get fooled again.
