CITIZENS
for
Limited Taxation & Government
Post Office Box 408 Peabody, Massachusetts
01960 (617) 248-0022
E-Mail: cltg@cltg.org Web-page: http://cltg.org
CLT&G
Update
Saturday, September 26,
1998
Attorney
General Harshbarger
Apparently Refuses
CLT&G "No New Taxes" Taxpayer Protection Pledge
Though CLT&G has not yet received any response from
Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger to our invitation to him to take the "No New
Taxes" taxpayer protection pledge, apparently our worst expectations have been
realized, if he is elected the next governor.
Though Harshbarger has not yet responded to our invitation, his responses in the Boston Globe (yesterday and today, below) clearly indicate he will not pledge not to raise taxes. One must wonder why.
Though Harshbarger states that he never voted to raise taxes, he's never been in a position to vote for anything -- which also means that he's never voted against any tax increase and never voted for a single tax cut! (His diversionary defense is cute, almost Clintonesque in the need for parsing, but we can also play this weak game.)
Harshbarger's campaign slogan now ought to be: "Vote for me: I might not raise your taxes . . . then again, I just might!"
Chip Ford --
PS. Yesterday the CLT&G "No New Taxes" Taxpayer Protection Pledge also was sent to Libertarian candidate for governor Dean Cook. We fully anticipate that he will return it signed!
To view our letter to Candidate Harshbarger and the CLT&G "No New Taxes" Taxpayer Protection Pledge, see bottom of this page:
The Boston Globe
Saturday, September 26, 1998
Metro | Region
CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP
Cellucci, Harshbarger spar on antitax oath, spending
By Jill Zuckman and Frank Phillips
Acting Governor Paul Cellucci jumped on Scott Harshbarger's refusal to sign a no-new-taxes pledge yesterday, saying it confirms everything he's been saying about his Democratic opponent."I think it's pretty clear what will happen: He's going to increase spending, he's going to increase taxes," said Cellucci, who did sign the pledge. "He will not be a governor who can impose fiscal discipline on the state Legislature and on state government."
Harshbarger, the state attorney general, said he did not need to sign a pledge because he had never proposed or voted for a tax increase and, in fact, had proposed a major tax reduction. "I have no need to take a pledge. My record is very clear," the Democratic nominee said.
But, under questioning, Harshbarger later clarified his position when he acknowledged that he supported the 1992 ballot initiative to raise cigarette taxes by 25 cents per pack and that he supported a legislative bill in 1996 to raise the tobacco levy to pay for health care programs.
"I supported taxes on tobacco," he said. Former governor William F. Weld had considered supporting the 1992 ballot initiative, but was persuaded by his aides that it would violate his no-new-taxes pledge.
Harshbarger said Cellucci's insistence on making the pledge an issue is merely a political tactic. He also said Cellucci is hypocritical on pledges, noting that the acting governor had switched positions on the death penalty, turnpike toll increases, teacher testing, and other major issues.
"The pledges that Paul Cellucci asks for are not worth the paper they are written on," Harshbarger said. "Paul Cellucci stands for nothing but his own political convenience. The reality is you cannot trust anything he says."
Letter to Attorney General
Harshbarger 
"No New Taxes" Taxpayer
Protection Pledge
Certified Mail Receipt
The documents
above are in Adobe Acrobat format.
To download a free copy of Acrobat Reader, click below.
