Grover Norquist writes for Jon Fleischman’s FlashReport: “It’s not lost on me that legislators who signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge are frequently accused by Democrats and the establishment media (same thing, really) of pledging their allegiance to me or the organization that I run, Americans for Tax Reform. This could not be further from the truth and if the fourth estate did their due diligence and adhered to their duty to inform – rather than misinform – they would see that the Pledge that nearly every Republican member of the legislature has signed is clearly made to their constituents… Republican legislators aren’t opposing higher taxes simply because they signed a piece of paper. The fact is that they signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge because they recognize that raising taxes in this high tax and heavy regulation state will only destroy jobs, not create them, and will do nothing to address the real problem – overspending.”
From Bloomberg, Drake Bennett writes: “Recent American politics has had one remarkable exception to the rule: the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Administered by the Washington-based Americans for Tax Reform and created by the organization's founder, Grover Norquist, the pledge binds its takers to oppose "any and all efforts" to increase marginal income tax rates and to protect tax deductions and credits. As the federal government brushes against the debt ceiling, putting at risk everything from the nation's ability to provide prescription drugs for its seniors to a robust national defense, politicians on all sides agree that failure to reach a compromise could be catastrophic. Yet congressional Republicans have remained nearly monolithic in opposing tax increases as part of the solution. The deficit, they insist, must be closed entirely through spending cuts. It's a triumph for Norquist’s pledge and the worldview it represents and reinforces: that government spending is, by its nature, a corrupting force on individual liberty and the free market, something to be fought whether the government is in the black or in the red. ‘Anyone who says we have a deficit problem is either a Democrat who wants to raise taxes,’ says Norquist, ‘or a Republican who's dimwitted and doesn't understand what he's talking about.’”
In POLITICO’s Arena, Grover Norquist adds: “Barbara Boxer and Bob Casey voted for the stimulus and bailouts and budget hikes that have caused the present overspending problem driving the debt. This publicity stunt is an attempt to misdirect voter anger. But voters are smarter than that. The Constitution forbids changing the pay of congressmen midstream. Boxer and Casey show no signs of having ever read the rest of the Constitution, but their staffs will have briefed them on the important bits — like getting paid. A deliberately dishonest, self-serving publicity stunt to distract from incompetence and lousy governing … I am shocked, shocked.”
John L. Micek from The Morning Call interviews Grover Norquist: “Grover Norquist may be the most important person in Pennsylvania politics you've never heard of. He's the president of Americans for Tax Reform, an activist group that's convinced elected officials all over the country — including Gov. Tom Corbett and some other freshman GOP chief executives — to sign a pledge to not raise taxes. The Morning Call caught up with him recently to chat about the pledge: Q: ‘You sent a letter to lawmakers last week stating Gov. Tom Corbett would break his no-tax pledge if he signs a proposed impact fee on natural gas drillers into law. Why would he break it?’ A: ‘It's pretty clearly a tax …. You're taking money from people.’”