"I don't sign pledges"
The Michigan Taxpayer Promise was distributed to each Michigan legislator’s office Wednesday, Legislators sign the Promise to their constituents that they will NOT vote to raise taxes for the next five months, which affects the 2008 budget.
We will soon know which Lansing politicos are proud to tell voters where they stand.
But some GOP legislators have already been quoted in the media saying they oppose raising taxes in general, but they “don’t sign pledges”. Ok, they don’t sign pledges or commit how they will vote on future issues. Really? So these same legislators must not have filled out many candidate questionnaires when they ran for office. They know the what I am talking about, those endless questionnaires that come from the MI Optometric Association, the MI Townships Association, etc. These questionnaires ask very specific questions about how a candidate will vote. Candidates fill many of them out, sign and date them, and mail them back hoping for an endorsement or campaign contribution.
Some of these questionnaires are from ideological groups like Right to Life and the NRA. They want to know how candidates will vote on their issues. They want it signed. Then they deliver votes. Why not taxpayers?
Other promises made on questionnaires are made because a candidate wants money. I wonder how many of these legislators who “don’t sign pledges” signed the MI Beer and Wine Wholesalers questionnaire in which they pledged their support for a morally corrupt (but legal) monopoly alcohol distribution system. And then got a nice, fat campaign check. Or, how many signed the pledge to an anti-gambling PAC called ’23 is Enough’ two years ago that they would oppose a new Indian casino in west Michigan? I bet many did. Another check.
But tell their taxpayer constituents how they will vote on increasing their taxes? Oh, no…they can’t make a commitment to them. They don’t make promises. Nope. Not for them.
We will soon know which Lansing politicos are proud to tell voters where they stand.
But some GOP legislators have already been quoted in the media saying they oppose raising taxes in general, but they “don’t sign pledges”. Ok, they don’t sign pledges or commit how they will vote on future issues. Really? So these same legislators must not have filled out many candidate questionnaires when they ran for office. They know the what I am talking about, those endless questionnaires that come from the MI Optometric Association, the MI Townships Association, etc. These questionnaires ask very specific questions about how a candidate will vote. Candidates fill many of them out, sign and date them, and mail them back hoping for an endorsement or campaign contribution.
Some of these questionnaires are from ideological groups like Right to Life and the NRA. They want to know how candidates will vote on their issues. They want it signed. Then they deliver votes. Why not taxpayers?
Other promises made on questionnaires are made because a candidate wants money. I wonder how many of these legislators who “don’t sign pledges” signed the MI Beer and Wine Wholesalers questionnaire in which they pledged their support for a morally corrupt (but legal) monopoly alcohol distribution system. And then got a nice, fat campaign check. Or, how many signed the pledge to an anti-gambling PAC called ’23 is Enough’ two years ago that they would oppose a new Indian casino in west Michigan? I bet many did. Another check.
But tell their taxpayer constituents how they will vote on increasing their taxes? Oh, no…they can’t make a commitment to them. They don’t make promises. Nope. Not for them.
posted by Leon Drolet at
7:06 PM
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