Wisconsin voters should expect Rep. Steve Kagen and his allies in Big Labor to ramp up their desperate attacks on Reid Ribble and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as Election Day looms near.  It appears that Kagen’s allies will do whatever it takes to smear Reid Ribble and the Pledge, all-the-while distracting Wisconsin voters from Kagen’s dismal track record on job growth and the economy.  By signing the Pledge, Ribble has promised to voters that he will never raise income taxes on individuals and/or businesses.  Kagen and Big Labor’s misleading attacks are merely a ploy to confuse voters and ensure that Big Labor will retain their representative in Congress.

The attacks claim that Ribble, by signing the Pledge, intends to “protect companies that ship jobs overseas.”  Unfortunately for Kagen and Big Labor their dishonest claims have been refuted by numerous news sources and even the non-partisan voter advocate, FactCheck.org.  Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck.org, called the claims against the Pledge “blatantly false.”  John Ralston, host of the Nevada television program Face to Face, said similar claims made in Nevada were “thoroughly misleading.”  To cut through the false claims and dishonest statements being made, voters should ask Rep. Kagen why he and his friends in Big Labor think tax hikes will create jobs.

 

AFL-CIO and Steve Kagen Campaign Caught Telling Lies about the “No New Taxes” Pledge

Big Labor and Kagen campaign desperate to distort Ribble’s “no new taxes” promise

WASHINGTON, DCThe AFL-CIO and the Steve Kagen campaign recently launched a new line of attack on Reid Ribble by attempting to mislead voters about the actual meaning of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The goal of the Pledge is to protect taxpayers and businesses from tax increases. The AFL-CIO and Kagen campaign’s charges follow the patently false claims made by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) earlier in the year – claims that the non-partisan FactCheck.org agrees are “blatantly false.”

The “No New Taxes” Pledge commits a signer to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.” By making this promise, Ribble has taken tax hikes off the table for all taxpayers in Wisconsin – something Steve Kagen has not done.

This is not the first time Democrats have tried to misrepresent the meaning of the Pledge. During the special election in HI-01, the DCCC ran misleading attack ads against the Pledge. FactCheck.org, a non-partisan "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, responded by condemning the DCCC and agreeing that the ads were “blatantly false.”

Similar claims about the Pledge were made recently in Michigan, Nevada, and Washington. In Michigan, the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, a Jackson, Michigan newspaper, deemed Rep. Mark Schauer’s claims about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and Tim Walberg to be “not true.”  In Nevada, Jon Ralston of Face to Face “reality checked” the Dina Titus campaign ad and found the claims made against the “no new taxes” Pledge to be “thoroughly misleading.” King 5 TV in Washington called the accusations against the Pledge and senate candidate Dino Rossi to be a “stretch.”

“Why are Steve Kagen and the AFL-CIO going out of their way to shamelessly distort Reid Ribble’s position on taxes? The Pledge signed by Ribble is a promise to constituents and businesses to never raise taxes. Kagen has yet to make the same promise and should explain to voters how tax hikes revive a struggling economy and promote job growth in Wisconsin,” said ATR President Grover Norquist.

“Reid Ribble has committed to never raising taxes on his constituents while his Democrat opponent has left the door for tax hikes wide open,” continued Norquist.

Click here for the printable PDF of the release.