(Chuck Muth) – The Las Vegas Sun recently reported that former state Sen. Bill Raggio “considers himself a ‘Ronald Reagan conservative’ who believes in free enterprise, limited government and low taxes. But he said critics within his party branded him a Republican in Name Only, or RINO, because of his support of some past tax increases.”
Some?
Sen. Raggio not only voted for, but helped engineer the four largest tax hikes in Nevada’s history over the last 20 years. And he wasn’t branded a RINO for those tax hikes so much as for his profligate spending and his support for the 2009 tax hikes despite “guaranteeing” he wouldn’t support higher taxes during his 2008 GOP primary race.
Oh, and the fact that he endorsed Harry Reid last year over the Republican candidate. That’s not a difference of philosophical opinion. That’s aid and comfort to the opposition….a textbook example of RINOism.
Sen. Raggio also “criticized elected officials who take hard-line, anti-tax positions” and told the Sun that “Raising taxes should be a last resort but it shouldn’t be off the table.”
The problem is, unless you take tax hikes completely off the table, they have historically been the option of first resort, not last resort. When, pray tell, was the last time Nevada’s budget actually shrank? To the best of my knowledge, never. Even last year in the middle of the worst recession in our state’s history.
In taking a last, parting shot at conservatives before his retirement became official, Sen.Raggio declared that “the present leadership of the Republican Party is a little too radical and has been taken over by what I think is a radical element.”
Gov. Sandoval is too radical?
Congressmen Dean Heller and Joe Heck are too radical?
Greg Brower, the man appointed to replace him, is too radical?
Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness is too radical?
Assembly Minority Leader Pete Goicoechea is too radical?
Nevada GOP Chairman Mark Amodei is too radical?
Former Gov. Bob List, Nevada’s GOP National Committeeman is too radical?
Heidi Smith, Nevada’s GOP National Committeewoman and former president of the National
Federation of Republican Women is too radical?
No.
The Republican leadership in Nevada is anything but “too radical.” The reason Sen. Raggio *thinks* the party is “too radical” isn’t because the GOP has moved too far to the right; it’s because Sen. Raggio had moved too far to the left. And it’s not that there’s no longer a place for his brand of moderate, big-government Republicanism at the table; it’s just that their place is no longer at the head of the table.
Sen. Raggio is free to continue carping about Republicans who don’t think raising taxes is the cure for what ails our economy, but to suggest that such responsible fiscal conservatism is “too radical” is simply wrong.