Michel Faulkner, a congressional candidate in the state of New York, has recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Faulkner is running in New York’s 15th district, which is represented by long-serving and recently ethically challenged Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel. Faulkner becomes the first candidate in the district to sign the pledge, joining candidates all over the Empire State this election cycle who have promised taxpayers they will be working to make sure their best interests are served on a daily basis.

Faulkner, founder of the non-profit group Institute for Leadership, is competing in the September GOP Primary to be the congressional nominee that will take on New York’s longest serving Congressman, and former Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Charlie Rangel. This will certainly be one of the more closely watched races in the November midterms as Congressman Rangel has made headlines with multiple investigations from the House Ethics Committee, and most recently being admonished for trips he took to the Caribbean. Rangel has since temporarily given up his title as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee until the Ethics Committee completes it’s investigation against him, including his delinquency on tax payments for multiple properties New Jersey.
 
Faulkner is the only candidate in the 15th district to sign the pledge, but ATR strongly urges all candidates in the district, state of New York, and all across the country to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
 
The full statement from ATR on Michel Faulkner can be read below:
Michel Faulkner (R-N.Y.) Signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge
Congressional candidate promises to protect taxpayers’ wallets
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michel Faulkner, a Republican running in New York’s 15th Congressional district, recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The Pledge commits signers 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.”
 
ATR has offered the Pledge to all candidates for federal office since 1987. To date, 34 U.S. senators and 172 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed the Pledge. Additionally, seven Governors and over 1,100 state legislators have signed the Pledge.
 
“After the passage of the so-called “Stimulus Package,” better known as the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Spending Give-Away, Americans are desperately searching for candidates and politicians that will protect their livelihoods and put their wallets ahead of the federal government’s coffers,” said Grover Norquist, president of ATR.
 
“By signing the Pledge, Michel Faulkner demonstrates that he understands the problems of hard-working taxpayers nationwide, but especially the taxpayers in New York’s 15th Congressional district.”
 
“I challenge all candidates for federal office to make the same commitment to taxpayers by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge today,” Norquist continued.