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S.E. Wood Income tax makes strange bedfellows We have all heard that politics makes strange
bedfellows. Well, it's happening again. Republicans here in the
13th Senate and the 43rd House of Representative districts are
in the hapless position of condemning state Rep. Charles Curtiss,
D-Sparta, for voting with state Sen. Gene Elsea, R-Spring City,
in support of Republican Gov. Don Sundquist's call for a state
income tax! And if that isn't confusing enough, Elsea
and Democrat state Sen. Bob Rochelle have joined together to
call upon the Senate Ethics Committee to throw any of their colleagues
out of office who committed to their constituents, in writing,
to oppose the state income tax. On Monday, Elsea withdrew the
request, but according to the Associated Press, he contends that
it appears clear to him that the pledge was a violation of the
Senate's rules. "It is up to each senator and each candidate
for the Senate in the future to decide if promising their vote
away to get elected meets their own ethical standards,"
Elsea said in an Associated Press article. Ten state senators, including Lt. Gov. John
Wilder, D-Mason, signed such a pledge last year. The others were
Larry Trail, D-Murfreesboro; Jo Ann Graves, D-Gallatin; Rosalind
Kurita, D-Clarksville; Doug Jackson, D-Dickson; Ron Ramsey, R-Blountville;
Michael Williams, R-Maynardville; Jeff Miller, R-Cleveland; Bobby
Carter, R-Jackson; and Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood. The pledge stated: ''I pledge to the taxpayers
of the ___ District, and to all the citizens of Tennessee, that
I will vigorously oppose and vote against a state income tax
and that I will also actively oppose and vote against any and
all efforts to impose any tax on the wages or earnings of the
people of Tennessee.'' But to give the devil his due, so to speak,
Wilder now says he really didn't mean it when he signed the pledge.
He now says he just did so in order to improve his chances of
being re-elected. (Honest folks, I'm not making this up.) Elsea
released a public statement, saying, ''I believe this type of
agreement to be harmful to the integrity of the Senate and unethical
based on the code of ethics for the Senate.'' Now let me get this straight: Elsea and Rochelle
believe keeping one's campaign commitments to be "harmful
and unethical," and, therefore, want such perpetrators expelled
from public office! Makes one wonder if we, who still believe in keeping our word, should now call out like the men of Gibeon pleading to Joshua, "Come up to us quickly and save us; for all the kings ... that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us!" |