The criticisms of Republican presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee as a spendthrift tax-raiser when governing the state of
Arkansas have been met with a few “yes, buts” that have not been
very persuasive.
The Club for Growth, known for its small-government,
low-tax principles, has led the expose of Huckabee’s fiscal apostasy,
highlighting the many tax increases he helped enact during his
gubernatorial tenure from 1996 to 2007. Others have followed suit
as he has gained traction among the GOP candidates, especially with
evangelical Christian voters. Huckabee’s momentum has pushed him
into the lead in the Iowa Poll and near the top in others.
The evidence for the former Baptist minister’s tax raising ways
is indisputable. The Arkansas Journal uncovered a video of him discussing a broad menu of levies that he
would welcome to help increase revenues. The New York
Times reported Sunday that while some taxes were cut
during his term, “on balance, tax increases outweighed the tax cuts
by some $500 million, and many of the cuts that Mr. Huckabee
heralds owe little to his efforts.”
Still, some have come to his defense, including the
Times itself:
While taxes did rise in the 10 years that Mr. Huckabee
was governor, the portrayal of him as a wild-eyed spendthrift is
hardly apt. For the most part, Mr. Huckabee’s tax initiatives had
wide bipartisan support, with the small number of Republicans in
the overwhelmingly Democratic state legislature voting for the tax
increases and many maintaining that the state was better for them.
In addition, when Mr. Huckabee left office last January, he had
turned a $200 million budget shortfall into an $844 million
surplus….
“He got bipartisan support on all the tax increases,” said State
Senator Kim Hendren, a veteran Republican and member of the
legislative budget committee.
If the best case you can make against charges that you are not a
“wild-eyed spendthrift” is that others in your party joined in the
taxation celebration, then you’re in real trouble. Only the
Times could swallow that logic. But still, they tried
harder, citing Hendren:
“Huckabee didn’t say ‘I just want to raise taxes to
start programs.’ He has a liberal heart for young people, for the
disabled and for improving Arkansas’ lot in education, and he is
pretty good at working across party lines.”
That sounds in line with the
Times’ values: the
willingness to abandon conservative principles, “reach across the
aisle,” and adopt liberal government spending practices. Didn’t we
hear that kind of praise about a certain Texas governor during the
2000 campaign? It took nearly eight years before the nation saw a
spending veto.
Political commentator (and former Huckabee consultant) Dick
Morris also came to his defense — albeit weakly — in a column last week, calling him a “fiscal
conservative.” How does Morris identify such an animal? By ignoring
all of Huckabee’s tax hikes and by only drawing attention to his
comparatively small tax cuts. Morris also disingenuously claims
that the state Supreme Court “ordered him to” raise taxes to pay
for education improvements, which is not the case. The dictum
required, as in most similar state court cases, that funding for
poorer school districts be increased, with budget decisions left to
lawmakers.
Besides Morris and the Gray Lady, Huckabee himself has defended
against the Club’s charges about his tax hikes by citing his
ranking by Time magazine as one of America’s top five
governors; praise he earned from Governing
magazine; that he balanced the state budget every year; that he
left office with a nearly $1-billion budget surplus; and that
Arkansas passed a property taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. “I’ve got
more executive management experience running a government than
anybody running for president,” he told
Hannity & Colmes on Fox News Channel.
But plaudits from a liberal newsweekly and another “we love
government” magazine are hardly good arguments that you’re not a
public money wastrel. As for balancing the budget, Arkansas’s
constitution requires it. And in the eyes of many, the fact that
you helped get a $1-billion budget surplus likely means that
government would do fine if it returned twice that amount to
taxpayers.
There are things to like about Huckabee, but distracting from
the evidence and telling half-truths about his tax and budget
record are not two of them. In fact, it takes away from his other
conservative policy stances.
Huckabee’s not only putting lipstick on this pig; he’s dressing
it up in eyeliner, a fancy dress and a bouffant wig. But the
“oinks” still come through loud and clear.
