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
Wednesday, October 7, 1998


Harshbarger Calls CLT&G "No New Taxes" Pledge
"STUPID"


In a speech yesterday to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial nominee L. Scott Harshbarger termed the CLT&G "No New Taxes" pledge "Stupid"!

Though he still has yet to respond to our invitation, his official response seems anticlimactic after his numerous public comments.

In Monday night's debate, Scot Lehigh reports in today's Boston Globe, "Acting Governor Paul Cellucci used Democratic rival Scott Harhbarger's refusal to sign a no-new-taxes pledge as a bludgeon to batter his foe . . ."

"Do you remember the last time we had a governor who wouldn't take the no-new-taxes pledge?" Gov. Cellucci asked. "It was a disaster."

And once again, the man who has never been in a position to vote for anything charged, "I never voted for a tax increase, unlike Paul Cellucci."

For the record:

Since 1983, on recorded roll call votes of interest to taxpayers, through 1990 when Senator Paul Cellucci left the Legislature to become Lt. Governor, he voted with the taxpayers 73 times, against us twice, and missed one vote that CLT used in its annual ratings. This has given Gov. Cellucci an overall CLT&G legislative rating of 97 percent.

In 1983 he voted for an increase in the gas tax, and; in 1985 he voted for the hotel/motel/jet fuel tax, aka, the "Boston Bailout" tax.

From 1987 through 1990 Senator Paul Cellucci had a 100 percent CLT pro-taxpayer rating, the only senator with a perfect voting record.

The "No New Tax" pledge, as Republican consultant Charlie Manning noted in today's Boston Globe, "became the cornerstone of much of the fiscal and economic success in Massachusetts over the last eight years because everybody knew that raising taxes was off the table."

But Harshbarger calls it "stupid."

As Forest Gump would say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Chip Ford
Citizens for Limited Taxation & Government
The Massachusetts taxpayers' "Special Interest" 1

 

 

Celluc98.GIF (14730 bytes)

The CELLUCCI COMMITTEE and The SWIFT COMMITTEE
55 Union Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02108

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 6, 1998


Out of Touch Harshbarger
Labels No-New-Taxes Pledge "Stupid"


The Cellucci-Swift campaign today criticized Scott Harshbarger for his out of touch statement during a speech at the South Shore Chamber of Commerce in which he called the no-new-taxes pledge "stupid."

"Scott Harshbarger calling the no-new-taxes pledge 'stupid' just shows how arrogant and out of touch he really is with the voters of Massachusetts," said Cellucci-Swift Campaign Manager Rob Gray.

Harshbarger Question & Answer at South Shore Chamber of Commerce October 6, 1998:

South Shore Chamber Question:  "With regard to the no-tax pledge that Cellucci has mentioned. Could you address specifically why you are reluctant to sign that and how your position differs from Paul Cellucci's on that issue?"

Scott Harshbarger:  "This is not the best political answer, but I think it's a stupid pledge for several reasons. One is for Paul Cellucci to ask me to sign that is ridiculous."

 

 


1  "Special Interest" as defined by Attorney General Harshbarger in his Lowell debate with Gov. Cellucci on October 5, 1998

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