Steve Greenberg

Steve Greenberg's Tax Hike Hyperbole

Adam Doster — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:44:55 -0700

During an appearance yesterday on the Illinois GOP Network's Blog Talk Radio show, Republican congressional challenger Steve Greenberg used a faulty GOP talking point to differentiate himself from 8th District Rep. Melissa Bean. He asserted that Democrats "just pushed through the largest tax increase in the history of this country, to the tune of over $600 billion," adding that Bean "drove the getaway car with Nancy Pelosi and Charlie Rangel in the back while the people’s money was in the trunk." Take a listen as he responds to a question from IL GOP Network founder Mark Johnson:

Internal mp3

Greenberg appears to be referring to the FY 2009 budget approved by the U.S. House along partisan lines last week. And he's not alone in his hyperbole; the day after the bill was approved, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) accused Democrats of "the largest tax increase in the history of this Congress, which means in the history of this nation, which means in the history of the world." Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) also asserted that the budget "contains the single largest tax hike in American history."

So how did Greenberg, Lungren, and Putnam all arrive at this extraordinary claim?

Essentially, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts pushed by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Bush included a provision sunsetting the cuts on December 31, 2010. Unless future Congresses extended them, the tax rates would return to their previous levels. It's important to remember that the sunset provision allowed the GOP leadership to obscure the real cost of the cuts and therefore enlist more legislative support, as The Washington Post reported on May 24, 2003:

Indeed, by "sunsetting" all the tax cuts well before the bill's official 2013 expiration date, congressional tax writers took a measure that otherwise would have cost the Treasury more than $800 billion over the next decade and crammed it into a $350 billion price tag that could garner just enough support to pass the Senate.

While Democrats have said they will extend the tax cuts that benefit the middle class in their newest budget, they decided not to re-up the majority of Bush's cuts targeted at the country's wealthiest residents. And for good reason: according to the Center for American Progress (pdf), the hugely regressive cuts will have cost the U.S. $2 trillion by 2010 and contributed to our massive deficit.

But more to the point, letting legislation written by your opponents expire is not the same as deliberately raising taxes. It's intellectually dishonest to conflate the two. If Republicans were so worried about future "tax increases," they should have convinced more legislators to make those cuts permanent during Bush's first term.

Greenberg Campaign In Shambles

Josh Kalven — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:05:46 -0700

As we pointed out in our fundraising roundup yesterday, in his bid to unseat Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th Cong. District, Republican candidate Steve Greenberg only had $5,000 cash on hand at the end of March (as compared to Bean's $1.3 million war chest). And now, as Capitol Fax and others have noted, his campaign manager has jumped ship:

Brad Goodman's departure from the campaign's helm has been in the works for a while, said Greenberg, who's challenging two-term Democrat Melissa Bean for the 8th District House seat.

"We have a path and a plan for the general election, and we needed another look for that," said Greenberg, a Long Grove businessman.

Whatever Greenberg meant by "another look," he apparently doesn't need it too urgently:

Brad Goodman left the campaign's top staff position this week, and Greenberg said it will be "a few months" before he names an official replacement to lead the general election effort.

"Lift Up," "Suck It Up": Steve Greenberg Builds His Brand

Mose Buchele — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 13:48:39 -0700

Republican congressional hopeful Steve Greenberg shared his plan for America today with students in two government and politics classes at Mundelein High School. Greenberg is hoping to unseat Democratic Rep. Melissa Bean in Illinois' 8th Congressional district this November. Judging from this account in The Daily Herald, his proposals sound more like a workout routine than an articulate policy platform:

The war was a particularly hot topic for the teens. One student asked what Greenberg would do about the U.S. occupation of Iraq; another questioned if it was right to force western culture on the Iraqi people.

"The Islamic people, the Iraqi people, are just like us," Green-berg [sic] said. "And it's our job to lift them up."

Domestic issues were a concern for students, too. One asked whether the government should help small businesses compete against super-sized retail chains such as Wal-Mart.

Small business owners need to "suck it up," Greenberg said, and create niches for themselves in the market.

The report didn't indicate whether anyone asked why it's the government's job to "lift up" Iraqis but not struggling American small businesses.

Greenberg did mention that these early days of his campaign have given him an opportunity to "build his brand." Apparently, part of the "Greenberg" brand involves him going out of his way to alienate small business owners.