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
Thursday, October 8, 1998

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 8, 1998

Contact: Barbara Anderson (617) 248-0022
                Chip Ford (978) 538-3900

Only Harshbarger Refuses "No New Taxes" Pledge

Democrat L. Scott Harshbarger is the only candidate for governor who has refused to take the CLT&G "No New Taxes" pledge.

Both Republican candidate Governor Paul Cellucci and Libertarian candidate Dean Cook have signed the pledge and promised taxpayers that "if elected, I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes."

On September 22, CLT&G sent an invitation to take the CLT&G "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" to Attorney General L. Scott Harshbarger's campaign by certified mail. Two days later, to make sure he received it, we hand-delivered another copy of it to his campaign office. We also received the certified mail receipt in the mail.

Two weeks have passed. Neither the candidate nor his campaign has responded to our invitation.

However, Attorney General Harshbarger has made public statements about the pledge when asked, making it clear that he won't promise not to increase the burden of taxation on Massachusetts working people. In fact, in an overly-intellectual response to a question at the South Shore Chamber breakfast on October 6, he said the pledge is "stupid."

In his debate with Gov. Cellucci on Monday, Harshbarger implied that taxpayers are a "special interest" group. If we are, we're the special interest group that pays for all the things other special interest groups want, and as such deserve to know how much more of our money Mr. Harshbarger intends to take if he's elected governor.

His assertion that he has never voted for a tax increase is of little assurance, since Harshbarger has never been elected to a position where he could vote for or against any tax increase.

In lieu of a record, we need a pledge. Without one, we must assume that, if he's elected, taxpayers will be looking at overspending followed by fiscal crisis followed by tax increases, again.

-30-

Return to CLT&G Updates page