A Reno Gazette-Journal report this morning inaccurately suggests that I criticized and took Gov. Jim Gibbons to task on Monday for violating his tax pledge over a bill to put a series of tax hikes on the Washoe County ballot next year. Not true.
The Governor hasn’t DONE anything with the bill yet, so there’s NOTHING TO CRITICIZE. If he vetoes the bill, all is right in the world. If he doesn’t…well, as Ted Kennedy would say, we’ll drive off that bridge when we come to it.
But I WILL take this opportunity to take the governor’s chief-of-staff, Mike Dayton, to task for his comments regarding this issue in the same story.
According to Dayton, should the governor fail to veto this bill to raise taxes in Washoe County, that would NOT be a violation of the tax pledge. “This will be voted on by the people, so the governor does not see this as signing a bill that directly increases taxes,” Dayton reportedly told reporter Ray Hagar. “Everybody interprets this tax pledge any way they want.”
Au contraire (ain’t it great to be able to use French again now that they elected a conservative president?).
The pledge Gov. Gibbons signed, unlike most legislation, is written in plain English. And it plainly states that the governor promised to “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.” Which this bill CLEARLY does. The wording of the Pledge does NOT say the governor promises to “oppose and veto any bill that directly increases taxes and will be voted on by the people.”
The Pledge says what it says, nothing more nor less. It does not require an interpreter. It’s insulting to our collective intelligence to suggest otherwise.
We continue to hope the Governor DOES veto this bill. Then THE PEOPLE themselves can launch a signature-gathering petition drive to put these tax hikes on the ballot if they REALLY want to raise taxes on themselves. They don’t need any “help” from politicians and special interests to do it for them.
Posted on June 5th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada
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