The National Journal Reports: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is set to pick up the endorsement Monday of Rep. Charlie Bass, but an internal campaign memo points up the potential downside of associating closely with the veteran congressman — his lack of purity on tax increases.
“Note that as we’re touting Charlie’s fiscal bona fides, he was one of 40 House Republicans to sign off on the letter to the super committee a few weeks ago saying they are open to revenue increases,” says the email from Jim Merrill, Romney’s top New Hampshire strategist. “He says he means through eliminating loopholes or simplifying the tax code, but conservatives don’t trust Charlie and are guessing this means he’ll vote to raise taxes. No way to avoid it — it’s part of the Charlie package. I’m sure it’ll come up.”
Merrill’s email was distributed late Saturday to senior staff; a copy was obtained by a National Journal/CBS News reporter.
The former Massachusetts governor has reason to be concerned. His own conservative credentials are suspect among right wing voters, and he has struggled to break the 25-percent mark in most recent national polls as a consequence. But Romney has said on the stump that he opposes raising taxes to achieve the savings needed to avoid automatic spending cuts set to go into effect if a congressional super committee fails to come up with a plan.
Romney’s campaign sent out a statement early Monday naming Bass as co-chairman of its New Hampshire Steering Committee and lauding him as a House member who “has stood up for the traditional New Hampshire principles of limited taxation and smaller government.
