Lynn Jenkins: Only Person Running in the KS-02 who has Raised Taxes

A nice little article on the race from the Joplin Globe today- includes most of the barbs we're used to hearing from state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins' group, with the sound rebuttals that always follow (you'd think the Jenkins people would try to find something new...guess they're that short on material).

Now, Jenkins hopes to convince voters in the state’s 2nd Congressional District that Boyda also has failed them on tax policies and spending in her first term, and that Jenkins is the one who can bring fiscal reform to Congress.

Oh, that's rich. Tell that to the county commissioners you owe tens of millions because you're a bad accountant.

“She (Boyda) thinks you can just tax your way out of trouble, and I, on the other hand, think you need to do something about spending,” Jenkins told the Globe in a phone interview.

Her television ads accuse Boyda of supporting the largest tax increase in the nation’s history and claim the Democrat has taken a pledge to raise taxes.

Boyda bristled on the subject of the ads in a recent phone interview, calling them “bizarre” and pointing out that several newspapers in Kansas have noted how the ads distort her actual voting record.

For instance, “the largest tax increase in the nation’s history” refers to a nonbinding budget resolution for future years that assumed an expiration of the Bush tax cuts. The resolution did not actually affect tax policy, Boyda said. She equated the ad’s message to criticizing her “for not cooking dinner for my family next Tuesday.”

That's a fabulous analogy from Boyda, and paints ridiculous Jenkins' arguments pretty clearly. The nonbinding resolution can assume whatever it wants, but when push comes to shove, Boyda has already promised to protect tax cuts for the middle class and wants to go even farther than Jenkins and George W. Bush want.

It does bring up something upsetting, though- the fact Lynn Jenkins is the only person running in this race who has actually voted to increase taxes- even after promising she wouldn't:

“Every tax that she’s accusing me of raising are, in fact, ones that she raised herself,” Boyda said, referring to a $294 million tax increase for which Jenkins voted as a state senator to eliminate a budget deficit in Kansas. Boyda said that bill included increases in sales, property, cigarette and estate taxes.

So sad, Lynn, to get caught in your own rhetoric.

Jenkins also smacked Boyda for voting against a fix on the alternative minimum tax, but Boyda countered, saying the last version of the bill simply spiked the cost off into the national debt- which isnt' what you call 'fiscally responsible'.

Boyda said fixing the alternative minimum tax is a top priority for her. But the bill that was passed and eventually was incorporated in the $700 billion measure bailing out the nation’s financial institutions was unfunded and added $65 billion to the deficit, she said. Boyda said Congress needs to fix the tax without adding to the national debt. She said eliminating tax giveaways to millionaire money managers is the way to pay for it.

Boyda also wants to eliminate subsidies in the tax codes for the oil, health and pharmaceutical industries, and to reinvest those funds “in the middle class and in small, independent and regional businesses.” She said giving subsidies to oil companies at a time of record profits makes no sense.

Note that Jenkins promises she won't close loopholes or cut subsidies...because those are tax increases in her mixed up world. That also makes no sense.

The article closes with a funny little exchange regarding the Wall Street bailout that really just exemplifies how confusing and desperate the Jenkins rhetoric has become:

Boyda voted against the bailout of the nation’s financial institutions both times it was put to a vote in the House. She said she spent nine days talking to economists and business leaders before deciding against it.

“I just couldn’t vote for something nobody could tell me might work,” she said.

Jenkins said Boyda took the “politically expedient route,” but she acknowledged she would have done the same.

Even when the women agree, Lynn Jenkins wants to make it clear Boyda is just playing politics, while Jenkins is the real deal.

But that's Lynn Jenkins for you- fake to the very last minute, willing to draw distinctions that don't exist, and willing to distort her opponents record to get herself a new job. Kansas deserves better, and on November 4 they'll get better- by re-electing Nancy Boyda.