A Bait-and-Switch Monstrosity (Light)

[The Clarion-Ledger ran an abbreviated version of this letter on February 14, 2006. It's a response to Will Sullivan's column of February 5, "Tuck-Barbour contest shapes up," in which Sullivan salivated over a possible 2007 race between Gov. Haley Barbour and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Tuck has given up on the original "tax switch" bill, and this week "tax switch light" was introduced in the legislature. My prediction: if this latest monstrosity passes, the governor will veto it. He has said that he's not in favor of raising anybody's taxes, and that presumably includes those evil, nasty cigarette smokers.]

Will Sullivan must have written his column before Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck said she wouldn't run against Gov. Haley Barbour-- and before it was reported that Barbour's political action committee made a sizable contribution to Tuck.

Sullivan says that "Ray Mabus (1988-92) was the first governor who could have served two consecutive terms." Actually, Bill Allain (1984-88) was the first governor since the late 1800s who was eligible to succeed himself. In 1987, Allain kept everyone guessing about his intentions until the filing deadline had passed.

Sullivan calls Barbour, in 2003, a "political novice... in elective politics..." In fact, Barbour ran a very respectable race as the 1982 Republican nominee against U. S. Sen. John Stennis.

When Tuck changed parties, I don't recall anyone predicting that she would run for governor in 2003.

Tuck obviously isn't confident about Senate support for overriding Barbour's veto of the "tax switch" bill. Otherwise, a vote would already have been taken.

It's interesting that the full increase would take effect on the evil cigarette smokers by 2007, while the full elimination (supposedly) of the sales tax on groceries wouldn't occur until 2014. Kudos to the governor for hanging tough against this bait-and-switch monstrosity.