The Republican primary for U.S. Senate took a negative turn in preparation for this weekend’s State GOP convention and an endorsement vote from Republican activists.
Eric Hovde, a hedge fund banker who just recently moved to Wisconsin after spending the last 25 years in Washington D.C., stood up for corporate special interests and came out in opposition to higher taxes on big oil and drilling permit fees at a time of record profits. In an e-mail to supporters on Sunday, Hovde personally attacked former Bush administration Cabinet Secretary Tommy Thompson and accused him of “political double speak from a Washington insider.”
In response to the Hovde attack, Thompson’s campaign said, “It’s disappointing to see Washington, D.C. hedge fund manager Eric Hovde launch an extremely dishonest and desperate attack.”
The fact is Hovde and Thompson both support cutting taxes for corporations and millionaires like themselves. They both also support the Paul Ryan Budget Plan, which would end Medicare as we know it, while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country.
In addition, both Hovde and Thompson have strongly opposed the Buffett Rule, which asks millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share so that people with million dollar incomes pay at least the same tax rate as the middle class.
“All the Republican candidates have recycled the same failed economic policies of the past. All of them have doubled down on political partisanship and committed themselves to Tea Party extremism,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Mike Tate. “And all of them would place a huge burden on seniors and middle class families in order to preserve corporate handouts and tax cuts for the wealthy.”
