TEA PARTY OF LOUISIANA CALLS FOR SPEAKER TUCKER'S RESIGNATION‏

BATON ROUGE - Both chambers of the Louisiana Legislature have passed House Bill 591, which renews a 4-cent cigarette tax first enacted in 2000. At the time, the tax was said only to be temporary. Governor Jindal has said that HB 591 represents an actual tax increase and that he will veto it. Conversely, House Speaker Jim Tucker was quoted in the Baton Rouge Advocate on May 20th: "I intend to vote for it [the tax] because I don't want to reduce taxes on cigarettes..." According to several sources, the Speaker has been working behind the scenes to rally seventy house members to override the Governor's veto. Reid stated, “This is what we do not need from any Republican let alone the leadership.” Reid asked, “Do we have the same type of Republican Leadership problem in Louisiana as we have in Congress?”

"It is unbelievable that a Republican Speaker of the House would be working hard to renew a tax," said Bob Reid, spokesman for the Tea Party of Louisiana. "We have worked very hard over the last year to give republicans majorities in both chambers. To think that they would use these majorities to raise taxes is just unspeakable," added Reid. "The entire Louisiana legislature seems to be devoid of conservative leadership, in both chambers," said Reid. "We look at this as a test case for any Legislator who supports this including Speaker Tucker,” added Reid.

Tucker has also been criticized for giving control of the budgeting process back to the democrats, despite republicans gaining control of both chambers earlier this year. Reid emphasized, “We demand that Speaker Tucker seriously rethink his position and actions.” "The people of Louisiana want conservative leadership in the state legislature. We are tired of tax-and-spend liberals and their RINO co-conspirators who don't understand the limited role of government set forth in the Constitution," said Reid. Jim Tucker will be term limited at the end of this session. One must ask, why he would be so compromising?