The gas tax, Easley and the presidential campaign
So a few weeks ago in an interview Gov. Mike Easley kind of ripped on this whole idea of a gas tax holiday.
Two weeks later, he endorses Sen. Hillary Clinton in her bid for president.
Funny story: Clinton has made creating a federal gas tax holiday the centerpiece of her campaign since an appearance in Graham on Monday.
Of course, I'm pretty much a moron so it took me a while to put two-and-18.4-cents together. So it came as a bit of jog today when the Obama campaign sent out a new release citing that interview and questioning how it is that Easley could back Clinton when he disagrees with a policy that has been central to her campaign for the past six days.
The answer from Easley's press office:
“The governor enthusiastically supports the proposal in Washington because it taxes the windfall profits of big oil to replace the taxes on the people,” Easley spokesman Seth Effron said. “On the state level, there is not the ability to tax big oil, so North Carolina would have a deficit.”
More on this in tomorrow's paper.