We told you last week we thought state Senate President Brandon Shaffer's Congressional campaign was over before it even really began. His own party threw him overboard in redistricting and the Dems' lead map-drawing lawyer even trashed Shaffer's chances from the stand during the redistricting trial. Now comes news that Shaffer himself is sticking a fork in his own candidacy. On Saturday, the AP reported that Shaffer is supporting the proposed $3 Billion job-killing tax increase known as Prop 103.
As any recipient of conservative campaign advertising can tell you, supporting massive tax increases, especially in a recession, is an electoral recipe for disaster. As Prop 103 is the only tax increase ballot initiative in the entire country being proposed this year, Shaffer and other Prop 103 supporters are putting themselves in a class by themselves.
It's not a class that most candidates seeking higher office would enroll themselves in. At least not the smart ones who want to win, anyway.
Even worse for Shaffer is the tax increase affects everyone from the person buying a coke at the corner store to major corporations. Shaffer is supporting allowing the government to stick their hand deeper into everyone's pocket. Every voter in the 4th CD, where Shaffer is ostensibly running, will see their taxes raised if Prop 103 passes.
We're pretty sure voters are not flush with cash right now and will remember who supported taking more of their limited capital come next November.
If they do somehow forget, you can be sure they’ll be plenty of ads reminding them of Shaffer’s love for higher taxes.
The President of a group that could run such ads, Tyler Q. Houlton of Compass Colorado, weighs in:
Brandon Shaffer has a long record of supporting job-killing tax hikes, reckless spending increases, and punitive regulations on small businesses. Considering the devastating economic effects of Proposition 103, it comes as no surprise that Brandon Shaffer preferred to keep his support for this multi-billion dollar tax hike silent for as long as possible.
Shaffer may have hid his public support for the tax increase until after ballots were already mailed, but that won't stop his opponents and outside groups from pounding him on the airwaves until November 2012.
Though we doubt anyone will have to spend a cent defeating Brandon Shaffer. Supporting a multi-BILLION dollar tax increase amid the worst economy since the Great Depression is enough to ensure that.