THE HORSFORD FILES
Democrat CD-4 candidate Steven Horsford's camp has been slamming GOP opponent Danny Tarkanian for allegedly promoting the stereotype that black folks like to play a lot of basketball. Oops. Check this out: click here
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN KICKS TAXPAYERS IN THE “JUNK”
Here we go again. Yet another example of why taxpayers just can’t trust any Republican candidate who refuses to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
According to a weekend story by Ray Hagar of the Reno Gazette-Journal, Republican state Sen. Greg Brower now supports Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to re-impose some $620 million worth of the “temporary” tax hikes that were supposed to expire next year – a huge tax hike which, by the way, Brower voted AGAINST last year!
Brower’s reported excuse for the flip-flop: He can’t support education cuts.
Here’s why this is so outrageous…and not just because Brower was against the “sunsets” before he was for them.
First, the tax hikes are being re-imposed, NOT to avoid cuts in education, but to end the furloughs of state workers and give them raises. Plus, if there actually are cuts to education being considered, then cut something else of lower priority in the budget instead of education. So this excuse is just that…bull.
But secondly, last year when Brower was running in a Republican primary to fill the vacancy in the 2nd congressional district created when then-Rep. Dean Heller was appointed to the U.S. Senate, Brower, a perceived moderate, signed the FEDERALTaxpayer Protection Pledge (see photo of Sen. Brower, center, at signing ceremony with me on the right and Grover Norquist on the left as witnesses) in an effort to show he was as conservative as his GOP opponents at the time – Mark Amodei, Sharron Angle and Kirk Lippold.
But once he lost that race after the courts determined that the Nevada GOP had to choose its nominee, not the voters, Brower decided to run for re-election to the state senate this year…but opted NOT to sign the STATETaxpayer Protection Pledge.
In other words, Brower is opposed to raising your federal income tax and willing to sign his name to that effect, but has no qualms with raising the taxes you pay here in Nevada – including $620 million worth of tax hikes he voted against just last year.
Lesson: ANY Republican not willing to put his signature to his rhetoric about opposing tax hikes isn’t committed to opposing and voting against any and all efforts to raise taxes.
This is a lesson conservatives in Nevada learned in 2008 when then-Sen. Bill Raggio“guaranteed” he wouldn’t support raising taxes, only to do so in 2009…and again in 2010 when Sandoval promised over and over and over and over again that he wouldn’t raise taxes or extend the “sunsets”…only to do so in 2011.
Sen. Brower is just the latest in a long line of Republican candidates who say one thing on the tax hike issue when it’s easy or convenient (or imperative in a GOP primary), but do the exact opposite when tough decisions have to be made.
And this point made by Grover bears repeating: Legislators don’t vote against tax hikes because they signed the Pledge; they signed the Pledge because they aren’t going to vote for tax hikes.
Any candidate who refuses to sign the Pledge tells taxpayers all they really need to know about where they stand on this issue. As we just learned (the hard way) once again.
DRIVE-BY MUTHINGS
Item 1: Thanks for all the kind notes about my daughter Kristen’s essay…but I left you all hanging about that puppy we saw get hit by a car on Friday morning.
Since it’s not really the kind of political story I usually feature here in Silver State Confidential, I’ll just give those of you with an interest the link to my blog where you can go read about it. Click here
Item 2: If UNLV’s football team can beat Air Force (and they did), then Mitt Romney can beat Barack Obama (and he will).
Item 3: For anyone who isn’t quite sure why so many on the “right” continue to worship the ground Ronald Reagan once walked on – including you young ‘uns born after the Gipper’s presidency - this short video clip will help explain. Click here
Item 4: You will not find a better, one-sentence dissection/explanation of ObamaCare than you’ll get from this doctor/legislative candidate. It’s a thing of beauty. Click here
Item 5: Are Mitt Romney’s polling numbers starting to depress you a little? Well, pollsterJohn McLaughlin says it’s no accident. “The Democrats want to convince [anti-Obama voters] falsely that Romney will lose to discourage them from voting.” Read more by clicking here
Or read more about this subject of skewed polling from PJ Media by clicking here
Item 6: Here’s a follow up on the story of the Philadelphia café owner who cleaned up a vacant lot next to his restaurant, hauling away 40 tons of trash and debris that had accumulated over the last 30 years.
The Review-Journal reports that the city “has demanded that the now-popular garden be returned to its previous condition at Mr. Fiebush’s expense” and “has threatened to sue Mr. Fiebush if he does not comply.”
This is the sort of thing that led Thomas Paine to write: “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.”
Item 7: I got one of these on Saturday morning. Anyone else?
STEVE & JOHN’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES
Democrat congressional candidates Steve Horsford and John Oceguera decided they needed to prove to voters they were “real men,” so they went hunting up in Utah and came across some tracks.
Steve-O said, "I know what kind of tracks these are. They’re bear tracks."
Johnny O replied, "No way, they’re deer tracks!"
A few seconds later, while they were still arguing, a train ran them over.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
"At a private gathering, Romney told donors that Obama had a lock on the 47 percent of voters "who pay no income tax" and "believe the government has a responsibility to care for them." This was deeply offensive to people who pay no income tax and believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.” – Columnist Ann Coulter
“When a Republican who really isn’t firmly grounded in their belief system, runs in a Republican primary against a conservative, then ‘no new taxes’ is their mantra. When they are running in the general against the Democrat and hit with having to make tough choices, well, then all of a sudden, your tax rates aren’t so bad after all. And I think that is where you find Sen. Greg Brower at this point.” – Chuck Muth, Reno Gazette-Journal, 9/23/12
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