Poster sent to all state legislators

WASHINGTON – Americans for Tax Reform announced Monday the launch of “ Oregon’s Least Wanted” poster, featuring Republican state legislators who voted for a tax increase.

The Oregon poster was put together after the 16 featured legislators broke with the official Republican Party position of “no-new-taxes”, and joined Governor Ted Kulongoski (D) in passing an $800 million tax increase in 2003.

Outraged by the tax hike, taxpayers and activists took to the street and collected signatures to repeal the tax increase at the ballot. In February 2004, voters not only defeated the tax hike by an overwhelming margin of 60 percent to 40 percent, but they also put an end to the careers of a number of Republicans who had voted for the tax hike.

“Governor Kulongoski and his tax-and-spend entourage painted doomsday scenarios of how the world would end if taxes were not raised,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C. “I am pleased to see the citizens of Oregon not give in to this kind of deception.”

The poster is the third in a series, which includes Virginia, North Carolina and now Oregon. Americans for Tax Reform sends the posters to every state legislator across the country to show that taxpayers will not tolerate the tax increases and the breaking with the anti-tax platform of the Republican Party.

“The public has a right to know who voted to raise their taxes,” said Norquist. “With the poster, we are helping to educate the public about what really happened."

For more information about the poster, please contact Sandra Fabry at sfabry@atr.org.