Ronnie Musgrove on Tax Reform 2008 Senate challenger; previously Democratic MS Governor

Wicker is not fiscally conservative on taxes

The National Taxpayers Union gave Roger Wicker a 56 percent rating for holding the line on taxes and spending. They tried to be nice and called it a C+, but 56 percent is an F in just about anyone else's grade book. And the Club for Growth gave him a 52 percent rating.

When you get failing grades from the National Taxpayers Union and the Club for Growth, you have no business calling yourself a fiscal conservative. And sending sugar plums to New York and California doesn't sound very Mississippi to me.

As governor, balanced budget without raising taxes

Our spending was smart, our economy was growing we were investing in education and we were attracting jobs and investment. We did it by working across political lines and watching the bottom line.

That's the kind of federal government this country needs and this state deserves. And that leadership and example has to start in Washington.

I believe in rights of taxpayers, and my loyalties are to middle class families here at home in Mississippi. I'm not going to go to Washington to tell other states how to do their business. That's the benefit of having been a governor. I know what works in Mississippi and what doesn't. But what I am going to do is go to Washington and help change the priorities of this government and the direction of our country.