from the washington post:
the political gasoline wars continue to be highly flammable. the kerry campaign is still burning over bush ads claiming that its man would raise the gas tax by 50 cents per gallon. but now an anti-bush group, america coming together, has pumped out new research showing that officials in bush’s inner circle have been responsible for previous gas tax increases of 35.2 cents per gallon and efforts to raise gas taxes by another 7 cents per gallon.
according to act’s research: bush campaign chairman marc racicot raised taxes by 7 cents per gallon as montana governor. health and human services secretary tommy g. thompson raised taxes by 8.4 cents as wisconsin governor. environmental protection agency administrator mike leavitt raised taxes by 5 cents as utah governor. homeland security secretary tom ridge, as pennsylvania governor, raised the tax by 3.5 cents. attorney general john d. ashcroft, as missouri governor, approved a 10-cent hike. bush’s brother jeb, the florida governor, presided over a 1.3-cent increase. and that doesn’t include a failed effort by former epa administrator christine todd whitman, as new jersey governor, for a 7-cent increase. “”the bush team raised gas taxes by $8.7 billion on american people; tried to raise even more,”” concludes act.