Dem chair smacks Camp for putting Senate run above tax reform

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Lon Johnson gave Congressman Dave Camp a smack today, accusing the Midland Republican of putax reform needs by reconsidering a run for Senate.

In a news release, Johnson relies upon a National Journal story with this headline: “Dave Camp’s Senate flirtation puts tax reform on ice.”

The Dems added their own second headline: “Chairman Camp poisons bipartisan tax reform in favor of partisan politics.”

Here’s the way Johnson summarized the NJ story about Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Capitol Hill’s foremost backer of tax reform:

“Before national Republicans decided a brutal Michigan U.S. Senate primary was a better bet than RNC Committeewoman Terri Lynn Land, Chairman Dave Camp claimed he was ‘too busy’ in Congress to consider running.

“Now Kentucky senator and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is claiming bipartisan tax reform is dead and is pressuring Chairman Camp to run. Is Chairman Camp really willing to fold on his goal of reforming our tax code in an attempt to trade-up on his personal political ambition and run for U.S. Senate?”

Johnson also threw in this personal comment: “Bipartisan tax reform was a tall order before Chairman Camp decided to politicize the process, cave to the U.S. Senate minority leader and reconsider running for U.S. Senate. “Michiganders have the same reaction – Chairman Camp is giving up on reforming the tax code to further the Republican political agenda in Washington. Isn’t this exactly why nothing in Washington is getting done, because politics keeps getting in the way of problem-solving?”

NJ’s Nancy Cook sized up the odds of achieving tax reform this way:

“The potential Senate campaign (by Camp) not only hints at tax reform’s slow death. It also signals enough of a shift in Camp’s thinking that tax lobbyists say it could drive other lawmakers away from reform legislation

“… Already, it’s been a rough summer for tax reform. The Senate Democratic leadership dismissed its top tax writers’ efforts to weed through the tax code’s various deductions. Senate Republican leadership told its members to ignore tax reform until both parties agreed that any overhaul not raise additional revenue.  And President Obama’s speech about corporate taxes last week put a drag on what little momentum was left when he argued that reform should raise money for stimulus programs.”