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« Required Reading | Main | Bush Boom: Entrepeneurship On The Rise » July 27, 2004East Tennessee's Clueless State Legislator
"At the time I believed it was best for Tennessee, but I was not privileged to see behind the scenes to see how he (Sundquist) was jacking around the budget.Rep. Patton, you are a state legislator, with an office in the state capital. You have access to the same budget documents and the same data that we, the opponents of the income tax, had back then - data and documents that clearly showed how Sundquist was, to use your phrase, "jacking around with the budget." We knew, for example, that Sundquist was proposing billion-dollar annual spending increases that far exceeded the growth necessary to keep up with population growth and inflation. We knew, for example, that tax revenues grew each year by more than enough, on average, to keep pace with population growth and inflation. We knew, for example, that in 1999 the state ran a revenue surplus of about $300 million at the very moment Sundquist was claiming the state faced a "deficit." We knew, for example, that the Sundquist administration (and now, sadly, the Bredesen administration) spends surplus revenue via a spending process of dubious legality under the state constitution. We knew, Rep. Patton, the things you should have known. We were not as you describe yourself: clueless. And we suspect, Rep. Patton, that you haven't had a real change of heart on the income tax, just a political one as you face a committed anti-income tax candidate in the race for the Republican nomination in the August primary. But even if you have, Rep. Patton, it doesn't much matter. East Tennesseans don't need a state representative who can't be bothered to do his job right. East Tennesseans deserve strong representation - rather than clueless representation - ought to vote for Matthew Hill on August 5, or in the early voting period now through July 31. Posted in Tennessee Budget & Tax Policy
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Heh...he is no doubt one of the 'principled' and 'courageous' that Sundquist would get all misty eyed talking about before calling the rest of us neanderthals. Now look at Mr. Patton, flapping in the wind like a bull's testicles. Principled and courageous he ain't. Posted by: Drake at July 27, 2004 03:16 PMI agree that Patton committed political suicide with his vote and that his defense was paltry. But all we have now is another unethical politician in Matthew Hill. Two wrongs don't make a right. www.impeachmatthewhill.blogspot.com Posted by: Tod at January 8, 2005 05:42 PMPost a comment
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Tennessee legislator Bob Patton, a 10-year incumbent, is fighting for his political life in this year's election for his state House seat, thanks to his support a few years ago for a highly unpopular proposal to create a state income tax. In 