As the Oklahoma Senate Wednesday prepared to take on House Bill 1010xx, the package of tax increases to fund a teacher pay increase, Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite brought out a big gun, Dr. Tom Coburn. As a former U.S. Senator and Congressman he became known as Dr. No for his stance on wasteful federal spending. After the organization called on elected officials and candidates to sign a pledge not to raise taxes, some are thinking of changing Coburn’s well-earned nick name to Dr. Hypocrite.
During the Wednesday press conference announcing the formation of Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite and their call for a no tax increase pledge, Coburn took several House lawmakers to task for their votes on House Bill 1010xx.
“To tell people you run on a platform and then do something opposite of that is unvirtuous. And it teaches our kids that truth doesn’t matter. And that your word doesn’t matter. And if your word doesn’t matter in Oklahoma, nothing else does,” said Coburn.
However, Coburn must have forgotten he was against tax pledges earlier in his political career.
In 2011 and 2012, Coburn was part of the Gang of Six who were working on the debt ceiling issue. The plan to curb the growth of debt was a slate of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Coburn wrote a New York Times op-ed in which he was critical of Americans for Tax Reform founder and president Grover Norquist, who was known for the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. He concluded his argument against Norquist’s anti-tax pledge like this.
“The majority of Democrats and Republicans understand the severity of our economic challenges. They know they have to put everything on the table and make hard choices. Legislators who would rather foster political boogeymen only delay those critical reforms,” wrote Coburn in 2012. (The entire op-ed can be found here.)
The Huffington Post reported on the spat between Norquist and Coburn at that time in 2012. You can find that story here.
While Coburn will continue to be known (and should be praised) for his hawkish ways on finding fraud, waste and abuse in government spending, it is curious what changed his mind concerning tax pledges. Oklahoma lawmakers have rejected several tax increases to fund teacher pay raises for more than a year with little encouragement from Coburn.
You can see the entire Oklahoma Taxpayers Unite press conference below.
As much as I admire Tom Coburn, quite frankly he is not a “big gun” anymore, and hasn’t been for a while.
Thank GOD we have men like Colburn to fight this financial abuse in this state. NOT happy at all with your attacks on him. This pay raise: failure for tax payers, victory for bullies and special interest. Ok public education will continue to decline.
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