The phrase “I actually voted for it, before I voted against it” comes to mind. Or maybe it is “I actually voted against it, after I voted for it.”

From The Toledo Blade:

The Club for Growth endorsed Mr. Buehrer (R., Delta) last week, issuing a statement and sending an e-mail saying that Mr. Latta (R., Bowling Green) “supported a $1 billion tax hike in 1998 that was later rejected by 80 percent of the voters in a referendum.”

In the complaint, Mr. Latta said he personally voted against the referendum.

What he voted for as a state legislator was placing the referendum, known as Issue 2, on the ballot. It asked voters whether or not to raise state sales taxes while lowering local property taxes.

“It’s not a fair attack because it makes people think Bob Latta wanted to raise their taxes,” said Matt Parker, a spokesman for the Latta campaign. “We felt the need to file this complaint and set the record straight.”

The Latta campaign filed the complaint against the Club for Growth and the Buehrer campaign, claiming Mr. Buehrer distributed the news release about the endorsement at his events.

Jim Banks, a spokesman for the Buehrer campaign, said the state senator is proud to receive support from the Club for Growth, which is running TV ads on his behalf.

“This is an act of desperation on the part of the Latta campaign, trying to cover up his record on raising taxes,” Mr. Banks said. “He still voted to put a $1 billion tax on the ballot.”

Scott Pullins is filing the complaint for Birthright Bob’s team, and here is a copy of it.

I have a lot of respect for Scott and Matt Parker, and I understand that they have a job to do. But I would certainly hate to be in their shoes. After all, when your candidate has such an extensive record of supporting the Taft/Householder tax increases, to have to quibble over a “I voted for it, before I voted against it” issue from 1998 shows what a awful candidate Matt and Scott are working for.

It wasn’t too long ago that Scott and I were discussing talks of a possible Ohio Club for Growth being formed (It takes A LOT of money to do so.) , and he was enthusiastic about the idea. But he explained to me that this situation is just business. That is a completely reasonable explanation- but I’d never work for a candidate who has spent his life in public service working hard to increase your state tax burden.

Also, for you arm-chair campaign managers out there, would you purposefully put your candidate in the position where more media attention would be focused on his record of raising taxes? The Club for Growth should love the FREE attention this silly complaint will bring.