"I’ll oppose higher taxes…" proclaimed then Assemblyman Lou Correa in a letter (see it here) he mailed to Central Orange County voters as he made his case for why he, and not his opponent, should be elected to the State Senate.  If his promise, emphased in boldfaced text, in a personally signed letter to voters wasn’t emphatic enough, in terms of where Correa promised he would be on tax increases, then there was the glossy full-color mailing, with the words emblazed on the front: "Where I stand on… Taxes."  Open up the mailing (see it here), and he says, "I don’t support tax increases without a vote of the people…" — the mailer ends with Correa’s campaign slogan:  "A different kind of Democrat."
 
One has to wonder what kind of treatment Correa is getting, behind the scenes, from the ever-petulant and immature Senate President Don Perata.  Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, whose demeanor compared to Perata is quite even-keeled, banished her "different kind of Democrat" to a tiny office outside of the Capitol, and killed all of her bills.  Is a similar fate in store for Lou Correa if he doesn’t break his word, and his promise to voters, and vote for billions of dollars in new taxes?  Unlike Parra, Correa is only mid-way through his first term in the State Senate — and presumably he wants to return for a second term.  Breaking a "no taxes pledge" that was as clearly articulated as Correa’s would be a severe impediment to that second four-year term, as Correa won his seat by a narrow margin.
 
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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.