Old Line Elephant Maryland Conservative Blog

Former MD GOP Chair Pro-Gas Tax?

In Annapolis there was a rally in favor of raising state revenue through a gas tax in order to raise transportation funds. Who was in attendance? Some Democratic leaders, some members of the Chamber of Commerce, and Audrey Scott. Who's Audrey Scott? The most recent former Chair of the Maryland Republican Party.

Here's an excerpt from the piece, specifying Scott's role:

Shaking gas cans with only a dime inside, members of a coalition backing new revenues for transportation rallied in front of the statehouse Thursday to launch a tough battle for tax increases.

Representatives from the Greater Baltimore Committee, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Maryland Chamber of Commerce participated in a rally that drew Democrats and Republicans...Former Maryland Republican Party chairwoman Audrey Scott also attended, agreeing with other supporters that infrastructure is the key to economic growth and jobs. Scott also accentuated the need to safeguard transportation money, which too often has been tapped by governors from several administrations to plug other budget holes.

“They can’t raid the money that’s coming into the Transportation Trust Fund,” Scott said. “It’s got to be there for transportation needs.”

I'll be honest - this is outrageous to me if she's clearly pro-gas tax. Obviously, we need to stop raiding the transportation to fill in budget holes. That's a given. What's not a given is that we need to raise taxes in order to raise transportation revenue. How about, instead, we stop building bridges we can not afford and seriously cut spending elsewhere so the transportation fund does not get raided to balance the budget. But, I digress.

Scott is currently running for Republican National Committeewoman against former Young Republican National Federation Chair Nicolee Ambrose. Scott had done some good things for the state party in the past. On the other side, Ambrose has a record of getting things done and helping Republicans across Maryland and nationally. Scott needs to clarify her participation in this event and, frankly, should not be supporting a gas tax hike. Period.

All this said - we still need to Stop the Gas Tax. Contact your legislator on this issue.

HT to Hillary of Purple Elephant Politics