On Saturday, Mike Castle’s campaign tweeted a link to a Politico article without much comment. This article was obviously based on some opposition research that Castle’s campaign is doing on Coons. He’s telling us his strategy right now. It’s all about taxes.
Cognizant that his decision to raise taxes as a county executive will become fertile ground for Republican attacks, Delaware Senate candidate Chris Coons is attempting to soften the potential blow by embracing the move and explaining it as fiscally responsible.
“Chris Coons raised your taxes. Absolutely. Guilty as charged, your honor,” Coons told POLITICO Friday when asked about the biggest potential vulnerability he carries into his race against GOP Rep. Mike Castle.
The New Castle County executive said the 10-3 vote he helped engineer in May to pass a budget without a deficit included deep spending cuts and a $100 property tax increase.
…
Coons said he would answer the charge, potentially in television ads, with the message that the balanced budget he crafted delivered his county a Triple A bond rating and a $47 million dollar reserve without a deficit for the first time in a decade. The plan also included an $1,800 pay cut for the county’s 1,450 employees, which prompted public employee unions — a traditional Democratic constituency — to protest outside of Coons’ home.
“By explaining it, by saying, are you kidding me? Really? That’s it? So in other words, I should’ve laid off cops, closed down libraries, sold parks instead of raising taxes a hundred bucks a year?” Coons said, formulating his answer to expected tax hike attacks.
Of course, the answer to Chris’s question is “yes.” Mike Castle is a part of what Paul Krugman calls the “pain caucus” that believes the American people need to suffer because of Washington Republicans mismanagement of the economy. If you don’t believe me just look at Chris Christie in New Jersey. The pain of the New Jersey budget crisis must no be borne by millionaires, only by cops, teachers and students.
Castle is responsible for a lot of the economic pain that people are feeling right now. Castle sat as a member of the Banking Committee while the Congress slashed regulations and protections that led to the economic collapse. He’s also voted for budget-busting tax cuts for the wealthy, for unfunded wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for unfunded Medicare Part D drug coverage. What’s worse is he’s now turned into a preening budget peacock, participating in the useless Republican earmark moratorium.
Mike Castle will run in November as nice guy Mike Castle, moderate Republican. Chris Coons has a harder task in front of him – introducing himself to the voters and showing that Mike Castle is just another George Bush/John Boehner/Mitch McConnell Republican.