Circular Firing Squad Update: Tea Party Of Louisiana Calls For Tucker’s Resignation
Late Monday, the Tea Party of Louisiana put out this press release…
BATON ROUGE – Both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature have passed House Bill 591, which renews a 4-cent cigarette tax first enacted in 2000. At the time, the tax was said only to be temporary. Governor Jindal has said that HB 591 represents an actual tax increase and that he will veto it.
Conversely, House Speaker Jim Tucker(R) was quoted in the Baton Rouge Advocate on May 20th: “I intend to vote for it [the tax] because I don’t want to reduce taxes on cigarettes”. According to several sources, the Speaker has been working behind the scenes to rally seventy house members to override the Governor’s veto.
The Tea Party of Louisiana demands that Jim Tucker resign as Speaker of the house.
“It is unbelievable that a republican Speaker of the House would be working hard to renew a tax,” said Bob Reid, spokesman for the Tea Party of Louisiana. “We have worked very hard over the last year to give republicans majorities in both chambers. To think that they would use these majorities to raise taxes is just unspeakable,” added Reid.
“The entire Louisiana legislature seems to be devoid of conservative leadership, in both chambers,” said Reid. “We cannot wait for fall elections to find new leadership in the House. We need new leadership right now and that’s why we are demanding Jim Tucker step down as Speaker,” added Reid.
Tucker has also been criticized for giving control of the budgeting process back to the democrats, despite republicans gaining control of both chambers earlier this year.
“The people of Louisiana want conservative leadership in the state legislature. We are tired of tax-and-spend liberals who don’t understand the limited role of government set forth in the Constitution,” said Reid.
Jim Tucker will be term limited at the end of this session. He is rumored to be running for Secretary of State and in need of support from democrats to win statewide office.
Generally I’m in support of TPOL’s activism and they’re usually on the money when it comes to issues at the legislature.
But this is just stupid.
Do I think Jindal is right to oppose renewal of the cigarette tax? Probably so. It’s a valid point to say that tax was put in place to be temporary and temporary means when it expires it goes away. Renewing it is tantamount to a new tax, strictly speaking.
They’re not completely wrong. But they’re also not completely right, either. Renewing that tax means taxes stay what they were last year. Taxes don’t go up based on this renewal.
I don’t have a problem with TPOL opposing the renewal of the tax. But to call for Tucker’s resignation because he disagrees is a face plant. It’s pants-droppingly dumb.
Poll after poll shows that voters in Louisiana are adamantly opposed to raising taxes…unless they’re on cigarettes. Some 60-something percent of the electorate is fine with jacking taxes on cigarettes through the roof. Right or wrong, that’s a consensus. If you want to be politically relevant, you don’t poke a stick in the eye of a clear public consensus on an issue. You talk about something else, or you nibble at the edges of public opinion so as to whittle that consensus down to something you can beat.
In this case, going to war about cigarette taxes would have been best accomplished when the Democrats wanted to raise the tax by 70 cents a pack. That bill was bludgeoned to death, and even though it was likely a relatively popular bill TPOL did itself a favor by coming out against it and winning on the issue.
With this bill, it’s much harder to bring the majority of the folks over to TPOL’s position. Coming out so strongly here makes it seem like they don’t care about the budget – or health care, roads or higher education. And coming out so strongly over a bill to essentially keep taxes where they are invites hostile questions about why it’s OK for the state to raise costs on people who want to go to college but not people who smoke. Those questions are answerable, certainly, but when you’re in a position where you have to answer them you’ve lost the battle and you’re on defense. The idea that you’d pick this as your hill to die on is a real head-scratcher.
Worse, the disproportional and extreme step of calling for Tucker’s resignation is a massive unforced error. Tucker, for better or worse, has been fighting like hell to balance the state’s budget with spending cuts and not one-time money. The argument could certainly be made that Tucker is wrong on the question of coordinated care networks and whether the state would be better off to eat the transition costs to start those up and begin replacing the current Medicaid system, but the point is that Tucker’s budget work has forced a discussion of a real ratcheting down of Louisiana’s state government and whether he’s correct on each issue he has generally been an ally to the fiscal conservative position TPOL has staked out for itself. To all of a sudden say “Off with his head!” on an ultimately relatively minor issue is going to come off as childish and unhinged. And calling Tucker a tax-and-spend liberal is laughable; he might be many things, but that’s something he ain’t. Anybody who’s paid attention at the legislature this year knows Tucker has brought a meat cleaver to the state budget; liberals don’t do that.
TPOL should get credit for being willing to publicly take positions on issues in support of conservative principles. Sometimes when you do that you take a risk. You’ve got to think through not only how the issue impacts your principles but whether taking a strong position helps or hurts your cause. It doesn’t appear in this case that anybody at TPOL did that before they went off half-cocked and dumped on an ally.
Louisiana Democrats are getting a big kick out of this bungle tonight.
Actually, would anybody have noticed it if you hadn’t and then wrote about it?
Tucker may be letting thoughts of his political future get in the way of conservatism and/or good sense — the posturing “Geymann rule” and his bizarre treatment of HB 479 spring to mind — but on balance he’s much more helpful to the Tea Party movement than not. And they want the guy out 10 days before the session — and in essence his speakership — ends? Does not compute.
HB 591 would not only have renewed this tax but would have made it permanent.
Jindal kept his word on this tax, what about fees, is this not another word for tax? Come Gov., we are listening.
I don’t know the history of this tax, but since my common sense is ofter overrulled by my desire to bloviate, I’m going to comment any way.
From what you say, this was supposed to be a temporary tax. The problem with temporary taxes is that they are always made defacto permanent down the road. All kids of excuses are made in order to do so, and your article uses all of them – budget, health, etc. It also points out repteatedly that the majority of people are in favor of this tax. None of these points are valid.
A temporary tax should expire when it supposed to. To extend it is, in fact, a new tax. The old tax expired. This is an anologue to the democrat argument that to raise taxes is just to let the Bush tax cuts expire – neither withstand scrutiny.
Taxes on anything take money from the indivual and give it to the state, thereby reducing the indivudual’s abilty to spend. And as the last two years have shown us, when individuals don’t spend, the economy doesn’t grow.
The other problem is that this money is now in the hands of government, which will spend everything it gets. States and our country are in trouble not because they don’t receive enough revenue, but because they spend too much and do so ineffeciently. Cutting is the only answer. Giving tax dollars to a government is like giving a beer to an alcoholic.
A majority of people will always be in favor of higher taxes, so long as it doesn’t impact them. That’s why we’ve gotten into a situation where half of the people in this country pay no federal taxes. So of course a majority of people are going to be in favor of taxing a bad habit, a majority don’t smoke and a majority see smoking as a dirty habit (it is) and want to moralize aobut it (which they shouldn’t).
I don’t know Tucker or how good or bad a politician he is, so I can’t comment on whehter calling for him to step down a speaker is an appropriate response. However your arguments in favor of this tax just don’t convince me, for the reasons set forth above.
Sorry to be so long winded.
Never said the tax itself is a good idea. The key point is the decision of
what hill to die on. The renewal of a 4-cent cigarette tax polls show the
majority of the citizenry has no problem with is no such hill. And the
stridency of the message – calling for a resignation of a term-limited House
Speaker 10 days before the end of his speakership on an issue lacking a
clear majority on your side makes you look ridiculous and hurts your
effectiveness.
Had TPOL put out a statement supporting Jindal’s veto of the tax and urging
the House not to override the veto, that would have been sufficient to push
the message and engender a perhaps productive debate. Going off half-cocked
about removing Tucker as the Speaker over an issue most conservatives
wouldn’t call a cardinal sin at this time is extreme overkill which might
raise questions about hidden political agendas.
All “sin” taxes are unconstitutional. That’s why the Tea Party is so adamant about it. Where does it stop? Let’s tax sugar, fat, white flour, etc. The list could go on, and Michelle Obama and her cohorts like Cass Sustein want just that!
They’re not unconstitutional, they’re philosophically unsound. There is a
difference. And if you’re trying to persuade the public on so esoteric an
issue as this, demanding the resignation of a House Speaker the public
perceives as being on the same ideological side is incandescently
counterproductive.
They’re not unconstitutional, they’re philosophically unsound. There is a
difference. And if you’re trying to persuade the public on so esoteric an
issue as this, demanding the resignation of a House Speaker the public
perceives as being on the same ideological side is incandescently
counterproductive.
Maybe the reason for the extended assault on the Speaker is because of the statement he is a “conservative” who is back-tracking on a redaction of certain taxation. The vehemence of the response i.e. demanding “resignation” is as much to tell incumbents AND candidates that Tea Parties are watching not only the campaign activities but the actual performance of legislative duties. The demand is an over- statement in the opinion of some. But, more importantly it appears to be a demand for politicians to stand on principles they say the endorse but selectively enforce when they alone see the need to vote. They run for elected office based on their declared obeisance to the elctoratee them claim a “vote of conscience” based on a higher moral ground. If they ar representatives of “the people” and court the favor of “the people” they need to consult “the people” for guidance on taxation affecting any group no matter the distastefulness of the issue at hand or the minority of the group in question.
P.S. (to prior commentary) MacAoidh, your thinking is good in so many ways but this would appear to be less a “circular firing squad” as it is a very obvious “warning shot” to all politicians foolish enough to believe the Tea Parties across the nation are NOT paying attention to political debate and activities – they are; very closely. Unfortunately the rigidity of some peoples’ thought processes do not allow for “wiggle room” in a politician’s stances on different issues as they surface. It’s always been my stance that where there’s smoke there’s smoke, it doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a fire but it’s always better to respond as thought there is a fire than come to th scene unprepared. That’s whaat this appears to be about: one issue masquerading as another. Is Mr. Tucker in favor of taxation or is he courting a few to gaarner support for future candidacies? Only time will tell, but appears the Tea Party is NOT going to go away quietly or diminish the vigilance they espouse in the oveview of what they believeto be their employees in Legislative positions and trusts.
The Tea Party – or more to the point the specific Tea Party group in
question – will wake up to a complete lack of influence among the
politicians they seek to have sway over if they make a practice of making
demands which they can’t enforce or can’t justify. Teddy Roosevelt might be
one of the most overrated presidents in American history, but he had it
precisely right when he said “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” This was
the exact opposite.
Since I issued the Press Release as spokesperson for TPoL, I would like to first say that this is NOT the TPoL Press Release that I issued or would approve to issue!
At the end of my comments is the TPoL Press Release which was sent to the Hayride simultaneously with distribution to other press outlets and contacts. When one reads the actual press release, I trust our real message and intent would be understood as follows:
(1) According to several sources, the Speaker has been working behind the scenes to rally seventy house members to override the Governor’s veto. Reid stated, “This is what we do not need from any Republican let alone the leadership.” Reid asked, “Do we have the same type of Republican Leadership problem in Louisiana as we have in Congress?”
(2) The entire Louisiana legislature seems to be devoid of conservative leadership, in both chambers,” said Reid. “We look at this as a test case for any Legislator who supports this including Speaker Tucker,” added Reid
(3) Reid emphasized, “We demand that Speaker Tucker seriously rethink his position and actions.”
(4) “The people of Louisiana want conservative leadership in the state legislature. We are tired of tax-and-spend liberals and their RINO co-conspirators who don’t understand the limited role of government set forth in the Constitution,” said Reid
The byline hopefully was enough of an attention getter for the messages to be read!!!
What was quoted in the Hayride was in fact a ruff first draft submitted by a TPoL member to the Board for consideration and was vehemently objected to by others as well as myself and below is the only TPoL position on this subject.
I trust the Hayride will correct this error and print our only official Press Release on this subject.
In Liberty.
Bob Reid, spokesman
Board of Directors Member
TEA Party of Louisiana, LLC
***********************************************************************
TEA PARTY OF LOUISIANA CALLS FOR SPEAKER TUCKER’S RESIGNATION
SIDES WITH GOV. JINDAL ON PROBABLE VETO OF CIGARETTE TAX RENEWAL
June 13, 2011 For Immediate Release
BATON ROUGE – Both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature have passed House Bill 591, which renews a 4-cent cigarette tax first enacted in 2000. At the time, the tax was said only to be temporary. Governor Jindal has said that HB 591 represents an actual tax increase and that he will veto it.
Conversely, House Speaker Jim Tucker was quoted in the Baton Rouge Advocate on May 20th: “I intend to vote for it [the tax] because I don’t want to reduce taxes on cigarettes…” According to several sources, the Speaker has been working behind the scenes to rally seventy house members to override the Governor’s veto. Reid stated, “This is what we do not need from any Republican let alone the leadership.” Reid asked, “Do we have the same type of Republican Leadership problem in Louisiana as we have in Congress?”
“It is unbelievable that a Republican Speaker of the House would be working hard to renew a tax,” said Bob Reid, spokesman for the Tea Party of Louisiana. “We have worked very hard over the last year to give republicans majorities in both chambers. To think that they would use these majorities to raise taxes is just unspeakable,” added Reid.
“The entire Louisiana legislature seems to be devoid of conservative leadership, in both chambers,” said Reid. “We look at this as a test case for any Legislator who supports this including Speaker Tucker,” added Reid.
Tucker has also been criticized for giving control of the budgeting process back to the democrats, despite republicans gaining control of both chambers earlier this year. Reid emphasized, “We demand that Speaker Tucker seriously rethink his position and actions.”
“The people of Louisiana want conservative leadership in the state legislature. We are tired of tax-and-spend liberals and their RINO co-conspirators who don’t understand the limited role of government set forth in the Constitution,” said Reid.
Jim Tucker will be term limited at the end of this session. One must ask, why he would be so compromising?
Bob Reid, spokesman
Board of Directors Member
TEA Party of Louisiana, LLC
http://www.TEAPARTYOFLOUISIANA.net
[...] Last night we ran with a post on a release sent out by the Tea Party of Louisiana calling for Louisiana House Speaker Jim Tucker’s resignation over the cigarette tax renewal situation. [...]