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Senator says he's staying

Chichester urged to leave party

By CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 1/31/2004

Chichester not heeding advice to leave GOP

Last time Sen. John Chichester left a political party, it was of his own free will.

Now he's being disinvited, and he's having none of it.

"I'm perfectly at home with the Republican Party, perhaps not the splinter groups of it," Chichester said. "With the vast majority of Republicans, I'm very much at ease."

The 1st Congressional District Republican Committee has passed a resolution suggesting that Chichester should leave the Republican Party because of his proposal to increase taxes.

Chichester has introduced a tax package that would raise the sales, cigarette and gas taxes, while cutting the food and car taxes.

The resolution was approved at the committee's meeting on Jan. 23.

It lists, at length, quotes from Chichester during his primary race against Mike Rothfeld last spring, during which he promised to "hold the line on taxes," be a "leader in the fight for lower taxes" and was "not going to favor raising taxes."

"We request Senator Chichester explain how he can propose such high tax increases after such a clearly-advertised anti-tax position to the voters in the June election," the resolution says.

It concludes by saying that if Chichester continues to support a tax increase, "we regretfully request he switch his affiliation to a more suitable political party for such an agenda."

Chichester said he has no intention of responding directly to the committee, but he did prepare a statement for the media in which he explained his reasons for introducing the tax package and scoffed at the resolution, which he called "embarrassing to the party and offensive to many individuals who usually vote Republican.

"Had the leaders of the 1st District committee chosen to make an informed decision, they would have seen that the budget is structurally out of balance," Chichester wrote. "As a fiscal conservative in every way, I have examined our options, and as chairman of the Senate Finance committee, it falls to my lot to make the decision. With the information that I possess, which I have checked and rechecked, to do nothing, as the 1st District would have me do, would be a gross irresponsibility."

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Date published: 1/31/2004