Bentley

After unveiling a $541 million tax increase at the beginning of this year’s legislative session, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has been called out for violating his written promise to the voters to “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Yesterday, Gov. Bentley sat for an interview with FOX’s WBRC-Birmingham. In the course of the discussion, Gov. Bentley responded to a question about tax increases with this:

I think those are legitimate concerns. Well let me say this. I did sign a no tax pledge my first four years. I did not sign it the last four years. What we did the first four years, we streamlined, we cut, we consolidated, we did everything that was necessary to make our state more efficient and we’ve done that. We’ve cut government by 12%. We’ve saved the taxpayers $1.2 billion annually. And so we have done everything that you could do the first four years to make government more efficient. Now, it’s halftime, little bit past halftime in fact, but we don’t have enough money to fund the general fund.

Gov. Bentley is hung up on his written promise to voters to not raise taxes despite Americans for Tax Reform, Alabama’s United State Senator Richard Shelby, and many others having pointed out numerous times the danger that his proposed $541 million tax hike poses to the Alabama economy.

Despite this, Gov. Bentley would like Alabama taxpayers to think he’s just being reasonable. That he is the victim of circumstance here. In reality, it is the opposite.

In 2010, when he first ran for governor, Robert Bentley signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. The Pledge reads: “I, Robert Bentley, pledge to the taxpayers of the state of Alabama, that I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.” At no point in the history of the Pledge has it been construed to only apply to one term in office (for more information click here). If a politician says they are pro-life, is it not safe to assume that they will remain pro-life for more than just one term in office? When someone takes their vow in marriage, is it not safe to assume that that vow is supposed to be for life?

Given his response to WBRC, it would seem that Gov. Bentley doesn’t want to be bound by promises.

In fact, he has gone out of his way to attack those who have tried to hold him to his promise. State Senator Bill Holtzclaw, a retired Marine, made it clear that he would not support Bentley’s call for higher taxes with a bill board in his district. How did Gov. Bentley respond? He put a stop to $100 million worth of road projects in Sen. Holtzclaw’s district.

While running for a second term in office in 2014 – supposedly a term in which Bentley viewed himself as no longer bound by his pledge not to raise taxes – the Bentley campaign was awash with “No New Taxes” rhetoric. 

Literally, the words “No New Taxes” were on Gov. Bentley’s website.

His campaign’s Facebook page.

And on campaign billboards across Alabama.

Gov. Bentley claims that he did not know that Alabama would be facing a budget shortfall (read overspending problem) during his re-election campaign, but Alabama talk radio host Matt Murphy has thrown cold water on that theory.

The fact is, Gov. Bentley has broken his no new taxes pledge to Alabama voters and in doing so broken their trust in him. Unfortunately, having entered his second and final term as governor, Bentley may not have to face the voters ever again.

In the end – with a preponderance of evidence against him – one can only conclude that Gov. Robert Bentley is either grossly incompetent, a prisoner of spending interests and influential Democrats, or a liar.