Five candidates for governor, two other candidates seeking statewide offices, and 31 candidates running for the Kansas House of Representatives have signed the 2006 Taxpayer Protection Pledge promising not to raise state taxes if elected in November.
The pledge the candidates were asked to sign says, ” I, (name), a candidate for the Kansas legislature, pledge to the people of the ___ House District and to all of the people of Kansas that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes in Kansas.”
The Kansas Taxpayers Network (KTN) has been circulating the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to state candidates since the 1996 election. Current pledge signers are identified at http://www.atr.org. Previous pledge signers who are running for different offices than they currently hold are asked to sign the pledge again.
This year KTN also asked candidates a question concerning what it sees as the Kansas Supreme Court’s usurpation of legislative budgetary powers. The court earlier this year forced lawmakers to hike education spending, going so far as to threaten to shut down the state’s public schools if lawmakers balked. All candidates for legislative or statewide office were asked, “Has the Kansas Supreme Court gone beyond their constitutional powers in the school finance case and begun to exercise appropriation powers that are legislative as contained in Article 2 of the Kansas Constitution?”
Responses have been mailed to all KTN supporters and have been posted on http://www.kansastaxpayers.com. KTN is working with Americans for Tax Reform in circulating the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to Kansas candidates.
Karl Peterjohn ([email protected]) is executive director of the Kansas Taxpayers Network.
For more information …
The Kansas Taxpayers Network is at http://www.kansastaxpayers.com.
The pledge signers lists are at http://www.kansastaxpayers.com/2006_taxpayers_pledge_signers.html (for taxes) and http://www.kansastaxpayers.com/2006_taxpayers_pledge_judicial.html (for the judicial powers question.
Americans for Tax Reform is at http://www.atr.org.
