Gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner has signed the Americans for Tax Reform No New Taxes Pledge — awesome. Before I get to the part of this blog post that is about Poizner challenging his opponents to do the same, let me weigh in on this. Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell should ABSOLUTELY sign the pledge…
We are never going to be the majority party in California, or again nationally, if we cannot clearly articulate basic core differences from the Democrats. One of the essential lines that we need to draw in the sand is that Democrats think that government is too small, and that your taxes should be higher. Republicans think that government is too big, and it should be lower. All of the PR geniuses can talk about how that can be articulated to the voters in "real life" terms that are less ideological and more practical — but it is what it is.
Republicans are going to be fighting a losing battle for the Governorship if we get caught up in an intra-party fight over whether or not we should be raising new taxes. The best way to take that potential scenario off of the table is for all of our candidates to sign the pledge — and mean it.
Below is a transcript (and audio) provided by the Poizner campaign of him talking about the pledge and encouraging his opponents to sign it — Poizner appeared on the Inga Barks show on KERN radio in Bakersfield. Substituting for Barks on the program was FR friend Ken Mettler, who happens to be President of the esteemed California Republican Assembly…
STEVE POIZNER: You know, it would be a fantastic thing if you and Inga put out a call for every single person running for governor. They should immediately sign a no new tax pledge. That would send a very powerful signal and really I think every single person, every single candidate should sign that pledge immediately.
KEN METTLER: Excellent point, sir. Excellent point. We will advocate for that and thank you for your service.
POIZNER: Thank you Ken, talk to you later.
METTLER: Folks, that was Steve Poizner, candidate for governor. Mr. Poizner is the Insurance Commissioner for our state. He is a good guy, very well thought of, extremely bright, very very knowledgeable. He can debate on any topic at any moment’s notice. He’s quite a guy, and he is right about the no new taxes pledge. Every candidate running for office in this state should sign that. If they don’t, don’t vote for them. There is something wrong if they can’t sign such a basic document as that to keep alive the American Dream here in California.