(Chuck Muth) – As I’ve noted in these columns previously, some GOP candidates who haven’t signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge this year have told me they’re not signing it because they’ve been told by lobbyists that if they do they won’t get any money from them. “How do I raise money for my campaign if not from these lobbyists?” one fence-sitting non-Pledge signer asked me recently.
So I asked how much money this candidate had received so far from lobbyists who said they wouldn’t give any money if they signed the Pledge since they hadn’t signed the Pledge. “Well, nothing yet.” Wonderful.
That said, as a longtime fiscal conservative pointed out to me at our First Friday Happy Hour the other night, if these guys (and gals) are already being swayed into doing what the Carson City lobbying corps wants them to do BEFORE they get elected, who’s going to control them AFTER they get elected?
Exactly.
If these candidates can’t stand up to the lobbyists now for fear of not getting their money, bet your bottom tax dollar they’ll cave in a heartbeat once the pressure is on during the legislative session. And as I’ve said before, if a candidate can’t get the tax issue right , he or she is FAR more likely to get a host of other issues wrong, as well.
So when you have a real choice between a Tax Pledge signer and a non-Tax Pledge signer in a GOP primary race on Tuesday, go with the Pledge signer, especially in these competitive GOP races:
State Senate 2 (Washoe): Don Gustavson is a longtime taxpayer champion who has signed the Tax Pledge. Bob Larkin is an establishment Republican who backed a recent misleading fuel tax ballot initiative and has refused to sign the Tax Pledge. Vote for Gustavson.
State Senate 4 (Washoe): Both Todd Bailey and Ty Cobb have signed the Tax Pledge. Ben Kieckhefer is a government employee and establishment-backed candidate who refuses to sign the Tax Pledge. Vote for either Bailey or Cobb.
State Senate 5 (Clark): This is perhaps the only real chance Republicans have to pick up an incumbent Democrat seat. Mike Roberson has not only signed the Tax Pledge, he’s got “skills,” baby. This is a high-quality individual who will very quickly rise to a leadership position if elected. I don’t even know the name of his primary opponent, who has not signed the Pledge, and it’s not worth the time to even look up. Roberson is the guy, period. Vote for Roberson.
State Senate 9 (Clark): Incumbent RINO state Sen. Dennis Nolan has never met a tax he didn’t hike. He’s also a world-class nanny-stater who would probably back a bill putting warning labels on trees. He’s not only voted for tax hikes over and over and over again, he’s lead the charge in introducing several major ones. His opponent, Elizabeth Halseth, has unreservedly signed the Tax Pledge. Vote for Halseth.
State Senate 12 (Clark): Incumbent Assemblyman Joe Hardy is trying to take his tax-hiking act up into the Senate. Not only hasn’t Hardy signed the Tax Pledge, in his short time in the Legislature he has already voted for the largest tax hike in state history (2003) and the third largest tax hike in state history (2009). He’s being challenged by Patrick McNaught, a Pledge-signing businessman you’d have to water-board to get to vote for a tax hike. Vote for McNaught.
Assembly District 5 (Clark): This district holds out real promise for a GOP pick-up against a tax-hiking incumbent Democrat. Republican challenger Tim Williams has inked the Tax Pledge. His primary opponent, Tibi Ellis, told me she signed the Tax Pledge but then we discovered she actually didn’t. Vote for Williams.
Assembly District 21 (Clark): Another potential GOP pick-up seat. Republican challenger Cherlyn Arrington has signed the Tax Pledge. Her opponent says he decided not to sign the Tax Pledge after discussing it with everybody under the sun except for….the two guys who know more about the Tax Pledge than anyone else in the universe. This is a guy who would probably call Jessica Simpson and Forest Gump for advice on fixing Medicaid. Vote for Arrington.
Assembly District 22: Republicans Scott Chappell and Calanit Atia are both Pledge signers running against a tax-hiking RINO incumbent named Lynn Stewart who refuses to sign the Pledge, voted for the third largest tax hike in Nevada’s history last session, and chalked up one of the worst conservative ratings in 2009 of any Republican in the state assembly. Vote for Chappell or Atia.
Assembly District 38 (Rural): This is a solid Republican district currently represented by a weather-vane moderate, Tom Grady, who chalked up a lousy conservative rating in the last session, voted for the third largest tax hike in Nevada’s history, and refuses to sign the Tax Pledge promising not to do it again. His opponent is Gary Gladwill, a small businessman who has signed the Pledge. Vote for Gladwill.
Assembly District 40 (Carson City): This is the one district the GOP has the best chance in the state of picking up from an incumbent Democrat. And while two Republican challengers have signed the Tax Pledge, the candidate far and away with the best chance to win this seat is Carson City Supervisor Pete Livermore. To have any chance of denying the D’s another session with a veto-proof super-majority next year, Republicans HAVE to win this seat. Vote for Livermore.
