May 17, 2005

Questioning Corker 2

As reported in the post immediately prior to this one, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, a candidate for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 2006, has scheduled a $1,000-a-head fundraiser hosted by well-known Tennessee Democrat Clayton McWhorter.

The fundraiser is raising eyebrows among conservative Republicans across Tennessee, as it only adds fuel to the notion that Corker is more Democrat than Republican despite his campaign's claims that he is a conservative. His tax-raising as mayor of Chattanooga undermines help Corker's claim to be in favor of low taxes - and his past ties to former Gov. Don Sundquist, a Republican who ditched his conservative principles in pressing for the creation of an unconstitutional (and unpopular) state income tax, certainly don't help Corker.

Neither will this: McWhorter also backed the income tax.

According to the Associated Press in a story published Sept. 16, 1999, McWhorter was part of "an unlikely alliance" along with "Sundquist, organized labor, well-heeled lobbyists, business executives and the state's two senior statesmen" in "a coordinated effort to reform Tennessee taxes."

Sundquist plans to call a special legislative session on taxes in early November. Between now and then, several groups are trying to convince Tennesseans that the state's tax structure is flawed and needs to be fixed.

"The budget crisis is real. It's time to fix it," said Clayton McWhorter, chairman of Citizens for Fair Taxes, a group of mainly wealthy business executives and lobbyists. "The Legislature is only going to react if the people speak," said McWhorter, former chairman of Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.

The CFT has no specific plans for change. Its primary concern is to alert the public to a tax problem, he said during the group's campaign kickoff on Wednesday.

(More stories about McWhorter's efforts on behalf of Sundquist's push for "tax reform" - the euphemism used for "income tax" - here and here.)

The AP story continues:

Earlier in the day, Sundquist, the first Republican governor to address the state AFL-CIO convention, drew a standing ovation from the labor leaders when he said the state's 6 percent sales tax on food should be eliminated. Later in the day, the organization's board of directors approved a resolution calling for the same thing.

The world of Tennessee politics seemed upside down with Sundquist, who has never been a favorite of labor, drawing applause several times during his speech. Democratic leaders in the Legislature are backing Sundquist on tax reform, while many Republican lawmakers have said they would not vote to raise taxes. They are especially opposed to a state income tax.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm probably having more trouble with my Republicans than with Democrats," Sundquist said to loud applause.

There will be those in Corker's camp who, confronted with this, will say it doesn't matter because Corker is running for the U.S. Senate, not the state legislature or the governor's office, and the U.S. Senate doesn't decide Tennessee's tax policy.

They are wrong.

Corker's stance on the income tax was directly opposed to that of the Tennessee Republican Party and out of step with the majority of Republicans in the state. On a key issue, Corker sided with liberals and the Tennessee Democratic Party, which endorsed the income tax (and continues to have such a tax as a long-range policy goal).

Today, he wants you to believe he's a fiscal conservative, even though he raised taxes in Chattanooga. He'd rather you didn't remember that, on the issue of the state income tax, Corker shared the liberal position.

You can't escape your past, Mr. Corker. We have Google.