Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Saxton on the Kicker

Depsite what you might have read in the Oregonian, Ron Saxton does not support keeping the kicker. Not the personal kicker OR the corporate kicker.

His campaign staff last week erroneously made the statement that the corporate kicker was "on the table" as a way of creating a rainy day fund. That is not Saxton's position.

When I read the quote in the Oregonian last week I was concerned, because I think Ron's route to victory is to constantly point out that Kulongoski is a one trick pony - for every problem, he tries to raise taxes. Five times since he ran for governor saying "I do not define leadership as raising taxes," he has advocated raising taxes.

But I talked with Felix Schein today. Saxton does not support keeping either kicker.

If you are worried about Republicans trying to grab the kicker, a better focus for your angst might be the Republican House leadership, who for months have been hinting behind the scenes that they would support taking the corporate kicker.

But Ron Saxton does not.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your statement is almost confusing. I thought you meant that Saxton did not want to keep the kicker in present form. I hope you meant that the kicker stays in its present form.

Anonymous said...

Run hard to the right in the primary and then tack back to the political middle for the general.

He is going to lose because he screwed up by moving so far to the right in the primary when he didn't have to. He had two conservatives on the ballot who would split the conservative votes and if had run as the common sense candidate as he did in 2002 he still would have won the primary and then he would not have the problem of shifting this way and then that way.

If the same Saxton that ran in 2002 was running in 2006 - Saxton could possibly be Governor elect on November 8th. As it is, nobody knows who the real Saxton is.

Is it the Saxton that ran in 2002, in the primary of 2006 or the Saxton that is running in September of 2006? Which one is on the ballot?

Anonymous said...

It's becoming clear that the only meaningful change will be through the initiative process again.

We should vote for Saxton, since he's better than the alternatives.

But more importantly, vote for the good measures.

I'd rather see clear gains with:
property rights M39
judicial reform M40
tax relief M41
parental rights M43
term limits M45
spending limit M48

If we pass all those measures this year, it would be more valuable than winning Mahonia AND retaking the Senate.

Anonymous said...

Rob:

I you have the ear of Felix, tell his boy he better take some tough stands and deliver some hard blows to the Guv.

This sounds to me like a trial balloon, let "the staff" say something's on the table, and when it blows up, claim an error.

This campaign to date is an amateur-hour effort that I'd expect out of, oh, myself as a $5,000 Libertarian candidate. Cool-Long has a pro staff out there kicking some teeth in. Make no mistake, if Ron doesn't start walking with some swagger and staking out some positions, it ain't even gonna be close.