Inez Tenenbaum doesn\’t have a leg to stand on in her criticisms, says taxpayer group
WASHINGTON-Today Americans for Tax Reform cleared the air in the debate between Congressman Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Inez Tenenbaum (D) regarding DeMint\’s threat to the South Carolina taxpayer.
"There is one candidate in this race who has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and that candidate is Jim DeMint," said Grover Norquist, prominent conservative activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform. "Inez Tenenbaum just doesn\’t have a leg to stand on when she \’warns\’ South Carolinian taxpayers about DeMint in the Senate. She hasn\’t signed the Pledge."
Norquist was referring to the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge, which to date has been signed by nearly one half of Congress, by the President and the Vice President. In signing the Pledge, candidates make a solemn promise to oppose tax increases. In the last ten years, no member of Congress who has signed the pledge has broken his word.
"If Inez Tenenbaum is serious about her concern for taxpayers, she\’ll sign the Pledge," Norquist said. "She hasn\’t, so it\’s safe to say her feigned concern for the South Carolinian taxpayer is solely an election-year impulse."
Tenenbaum has been attacking the tax reform proposals of DeMint, omitting the proposals\’ tax reductions from her rhetorical calculus.
"DeMint has supported proposals that would greatly reduce the overall tax burden of the grossly overtaxed American. Tenenbaum is acting like eliminating the IRS would be hard on the taxpayer! She knows it\’s disingenuous, but she\’s hoping to deliver some summer snow to South Carolina. Of course if she\’s serious about her concerns for the taxpayer, the no-tax Pledge is just waiting for her signature," Norquist said.
According to ATR\’s key-vote ratings, Rep. Jim DeMint voted with taxpayers in every vote he made in the last session of Congress. While ATR\’s 2004 ratings have not yet been finalized, DeMint scored a perfect 100% each of the two prior sessions of Congress, and his lifetime record is among the very best of incumbent members.