PLEASE READ THIS THROUGH, LISTEN, AND THEN CONTACT STATE SENATOR ROY ASHBURN!

Upon returning from my vacation, I was impressed upon by some Capitol insiders that there was a "problem" within the Senate Republican Caucus — and that we may no longer have a unified team to oppose a tax increase.  As you know too well from last year, it takes a two-thirds vote to pass a budget, as well as to pass a tax increase (or place one on the ballot).  That means that only two GOPers need to "go south" before the entire defense against new taxes shifts over to the Assembly where six votes of Republicans (or perhaps seven due to the illness of one Democrat member) are needed, along with every Democrat, to pass a budget, raise taxes, or place a tax increase on the ballot.

I was told that State Senator Roy Ashburn was publicly saying there were circumstances under which he would be willing to support Governor Schwarzenegger’s "temporary sales tax increase" proposal.  Ashburn along with every Senate Republican has signed the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge, which is very straightforward: "I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.")

The Governor’s proposal would hike the sales tax by a full cent for three years (which will hurt the economy, not help it), and then promises to then decrease the sales tax after three years to a level below today’s tax.  Do you buy that?  Can you, with confidence, say that in a few years, there won’t be tremendous pressure to stop any "automatic decrease" because of the "need" to spend more money?

To be honest, when I heard this rumor about Ashburn, I was immediately skeptical.  I have known the Senator for many, many years, and this proposal by the Governor sounds like something that would be a non-starter for him.  The folks who tipped me off asserted that Ashburn is facing term limits, and needs to figure out what he is going to do for a living after his current term in the Senate expires..

Well, longtime FR Friend and legendary Talk Show Host from the Central Valley, Inga Barks (Radio 1410, KERN), just e-mailed me some audio files of an interview that she conducted with Senator Ashburn this morning.  The interview is attached in two MP3 files, which should launch when you click on them below.

When listening to this interview, I found a few parts to be instructive:

At about 2:40, in response to Inga’s query about rumors that he is willing to vote for a tax increase, the Senator says, "I’m not sure what I will be willing to support of not support, it depends on the entire package."

At roughly 5:45 into the first segment, the Senator tells Inga that he is not so sure that what the Governor has introduced [the 1 cent increase in the state sales tax] is a tax increase.  He says, and I quote:  "We going to have to see what the total package is, Inga.  What the Governor proposed I am not sure can be characterized as a tax increase."

The Senator argues through some twisted logic that a tax increase for three fulls years, followed by a tax cut, never raised taxes.  We beg to differ — ask anyone who would be paying higher taxes the next three years.  And we have little faith that the legislature wouldn’t find a way to stop any potential tax cut before it went into effect.

[Note, I placed a call into the Senator a couple of hours ago and have not heard back as of this posting.]

IT IS CRITICAL THAT ALL OF OUR REPUBLICAN LEGISLATORS UNIFORMLY OPPOSE AND CONDEMN ALL PROPOSALS THAT WOULD RAISE TAXES (EVEN IF CALLED "TEMPORARY" — WHICH SELDOM STAY TEMPORARY).

PLEASE CONTACT SENATOR ASHBURN, AND ASK HIM TO KEEP HIS PLEDGE, AND TO COMMIT TO VOTING NO ON ANY BUDGET THAT INCLUDES ANY TAX INCREASES.

You can e-mail the Senator here (you will fill out an online form).
Or you can call his office at (661) 323-0443.

YOUR CALL WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.