Posted by Jon Fleischman at 12:00 am on Feb 13, 2008 Comments Off on Pledge or No – Niello is a solid vote against tax increases…
There is not even one vote in the Assembly Republican Caucus to
raise taxes. Period.
I keep reading, on occasion, that every Republican in the State
Assembly but one has pledged not to raise taxes. And while
that is true, it doesn’t do justice to Republican Assemblyman Roger
Niello. I have spoken with this man, and I think it is more
likely that I will register as a Democrat than he will support a
tax increase.
The confusion, if you want to call it that, stems from the fact
that last year when all of Niello’s colleagues signed the Americans
for Tax Reform "No New Taxes" pledge, in which each signer commits
that they will oppose any attempts to raise taxes on their
constituents. Everyone signed it but Niello.
But Niello’s decision not to sign was not because he ever
envisions supporting a tax increase, but due to a philosophy about
taking "pledges" — he just doesn’t think he should sign them.
But he is not alone. There are a lot of politicians who,
for one reason or another don’t want to sign pledges. For the
purposes of this blog post, I will simply use California GOP
Congressman… Read More