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PRESS RELEASE FROM AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM
Contact: John Kartch ( jkartch@atr.org or 202-785-0266)

11/12/02

Taxpayers, Break Out Your Hardhats:
Nancy Pelosi Set to Become House Minority Leader
Candidate to lead Democratic minority in House has abysmal record on taxes.

WASHINGTON - With the Democrats' defeat at the polls last week, party leadership in both houses of Congress face the choice of kicking ideologically to the right or left. And with Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif) probable ascension to House Minority Leader post, Democrats took the following course: kick hard left, and with a vengeance.

The Washington Post calls Pelosi, who has public commitments from at least 111 of the 203 newly elected House Democrats for the leadership position, "a liberal Democrat from San Francisco." Yet, her record speaks even louder than the Washington Post's words.

"Nancy Pelosi is a nemesis to American taxpayers not seen since the likes of Huey Long," said taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist, who heads Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in Washington. "She has opposed every meaningful tax relief effort of recent memory and vociferously supported the most leviathan tax hike initiatives in the history of the United States, and that's no exaggeration," he continued.

Pelosi has averaged a 3 out of 100 score on the ATR congressional scorecard since its inception in 1994, including a zero score for both sessions of the most recent Congress. The scorecard measures the voting records of members of Congress on important votes for taxpayers. Most recently, Pelosi voted against President Bush's tax relief plan, which became law in June of 2001. The plan lowered marginal tax rates (including the lowest marginal rate from 15 to 10 percent), eliminated the Marriage Penalty, the Death Tax, and increased the per-child tax credit from $500 to $1000. All of the votes, including their explanations, can be viewed on ATR's website at www.atr.org.

Pelosi was an outspoken opponent of the landmark Welfare Reform law passed in 1996. In addition, she has repeatedly refused to sign ATR's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which is a written promise from candidates and elected officials to their constituents to oppose and vote against efforts to raise taxes. Currently, President George W. Bush, 251 members of Congress, eight governors and over 1,275 state legislators have signed the Pledge.

"Rather than calm their leftist impulses, House Democrats are poised to elect a paleoliberal to lead them into the 21st Century," continued Norquist, "and as more voters than ever are investing and owning homes, they are choosing the path increasingly less traveled by Joe Voter."

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Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose any and all federal and state tax increases.  For more information, or to arrange an interview with Mr. Norquist please contact John Kartch at (202)785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.