Oregon voters should expect Rep. Kurt Schrader and his allies to ramp up their desperate attacks on Scott Bruun and the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as Election Day looms near.  It appears that Schrader will do whatever it takes to smear Scott Bruun and the Pledge, all-the-while distracting Oregon voters from his dismal record on job growth and the economy.  By signing the Pledge, Bruun has promised to voters that he will never raise income taxes on individuals and/or businesses.  Schrader’s misleading attacks are merely a ploy to confuse voters in a desperate attempt to hold on to his congressional seat.

The attacks claim that Bruun, by signing the Pledge, intends to “protect companies that ship jobs overseas.”  Unfortunately for Schrader, his dishonest claims have been refuted by a number of newssources and even the non-partisan voter advocate, 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. Schrader why he thinks tax hikes create jobs. Voters should also demand to know why Rep. Schrader left Washington before putting a stop to one of the largest tax hikes in history.

 

Kurt Schrader Campaign Caught Telling Lies about the “No New Taxes” Pledge

Schrader campaign desperate to distort Bruun’s “no new taxes” promise

WASHINGTON, DCThe Kurt Schrader Campaign recently launched a new line of attack on Scott Bruun 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 Schrader 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, Bruun has taken tax hikes off the table for all taxpayers in Oregon- something Kurt Schrader 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 a “stretch.”

“Why is Kurt Schrader going out of his way to shamelessly distort Scott Bruun’s position on taxes? The Pledge signed by Bruun is a promise to constituents and businesses to never raise taxes. Schrader has yet to make the same promise and should explain to voters how tax hikes revive a struggling economy and promote job growth in Oregon,” said ATR President Grover Norquist.

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

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