Sunday, September 24, 2006

Saxton has pulled even

Ron Saxton has gained a ton of momentum in the last few weeks. His campaign has zeroed in on what I believe is the winning message: taxes.

Kulongoski is a serial tax hiker, and Ron Saxton will not raise your taxes.

The Kulongiski camp is squealing about Ron's latest TV ads which say Ted supports a sales tax and keeping the kickers. Kulongoski says he is no longer proposing these things so it is unfair for Ron to hang them around his neck.

Sorry, dude. You don't get to run away from positions you took just a few short months ago. It is absolutely fair game for Ron to tell voters that Ted supports a sales tax and keeping the kicker.

The tax issue, I have said for months, is the winner in this race. This election will swing, as usual, on the independent voter. Most independents are fiscal conservatives, but are independent because they are uncomfortable with the social conservative platform of the Republican party. That is why Republican candidates regularly get 45% of the vote while Republican issues such as Measures 37, 38 and 40 get 60%.

Ron Saxton aligns himself directly with this 60% of the voters when he speaks strongly against higher taxes. The voting public is in no mood for higher taxes, but Kulongoski seemingly can't help himself - he keeps proposing new taxes.

Tomorrow should be fun. On the heels of his campaign complaining about Saxton's TV ads, Kulongiski is apparently going to propose a big health care initiative, paid for by a hike in cigarette taxes!

He's trying to change the subject so he can talk about something the D's have an adavantage in, but he proposes a new tax to pay for it? This gives Saxton a perfect avenue to keep the subject on taxes.

"Stop me before I tax again!"

Is it a coincidence that if you spell "Saxton" backwards, it almost spells "no taxes?"

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Ron Saxton Saves the Oregon State Police! Ron Saxton Finds the Money for the Oregon State Police!

Our beloved Republican candidate for Governor Ron Saxton has once again proven his critics to be wrong. Yes! The critics are once again wrong!

Ron Saxton and the Oregon Republican Party Platform will save the Oregon State Police from further Republican budget cuts! Yes!

And Ron Saxton and his ingenious plan will eliminate waste in one part of the state budget and transfer the savings to provide ample—even generous—funding for the Oregon State Police. The State Police funding problem is solved.

“How will he do this?” you ask.

“I will tell you,” I reply.

Our beloved Ron Saxton has calculated that efficiencies gained by spending less money on food for prisoners will create these ample, generous savings.

Ron Saxton will cut the lavish feasts the Oregon prisoners currently dine on three times a day, and serve in their place hardtack and gruel. Ha! This is so simple and Ron Saxton thought of this before anyone else. I saw him announce his plan on television from the steps of the State Capitol.

“How much money can we save with hardtack and gruel?” you ask.

“Ha”, I reply. The beauty of Ron Saxton’s plan to reduce costs in the prison system and hire more State troopers is that we save money in so many ways.

Once baked, hardtack can last for years. Actually, so can gruel. According to our beloved Republican Candidate for Governor Ron Saxton’s plan, the state will buy the hardtack and gruel once a year. With the savings from bulk purchasing, we can feed the prisoners for less than fifteen cents a day.

The beauty of hardtack and gruel is that both can be served cold. Yes! So can coffee. Some people will pay good money for a cold cup of coffee, and our prisoners will get their cups for free, so there is no need to complain.

No more unnecessary and wasteful cooking of food in prison! Consider the savings on energy! Yes! And they say that Ron Saxton doesn’t care about the environment!

In a weakened state, the prisoners will be unable to riot and will be more manageable, requiring fewer correctional officers. We can then teach the correctional officers how to drive cars and write tickets, and then transfer them to the Oregon State Police, saving money on training costs, pay and benefits.

Are you starting to realize the genius of the thinking of our beloved Ron Saxton?
Yes! This is the way this man thinks, thinking of how to solve two problems at the same time, like President Bush, only without the big oil money in his pocket, and without the atomic bombs. Actually, I don’t know about the oil money.

And once we have hired the troopers with the money we have saved in the prisons, we will assign the troopers to mount roadblocks on all highways coming into the state of Oregon. Yes! And the troopers will search the cars for evidence of foreign word infestation in our beloved English language. Yes!

“Does Ron Saxton really want to starve the prisoners?” you ask.

“Of course not,” I reply.

This is the final beauty of our beloved Republican Candidate for Governor Ron Saxton’s plan. It is so very simple, and Ron Saxton was the first to think of this: the prisoners will not really starve, because their friends and family will bring food to the prison. This costs the state nothing, so Ron Saxton can follow through on his promise to cut the taxes of the wealthy.

With his plan to fund the Oregon State Police, our beloved Ron Saxton will in effect privatize the prison kitchen system. At great savings! This man thinks like this, solving two problems at the same time.

And they say Ron Saxton is not a friend of small business. Ha!

Anonymous said...

Let's not forget that last time around Ted Kulongoski promised voters if elected he would absolutely not raise income taxes, and then turned about and approved a tax hike measure as soon as he was elected -- in voilation of his pledge -- and the voters had to override this tax increase to get what Kulongoski had promised them.
Ted's natural response to every state problem is to raise taxes -- indeed Ted is truly a serial tax hiker -- who cannot help himself -- and cannot be trusted to do otherwise -- no matter what he promises. Every time he opens his mouth it is to propose another new tax.