Lt. governor candidate Murphy says anti-tax pledge "forever"

SPRINGFIELD - Lieutenant governor hopeful state Sen. Matt Murphy said this morning he would never support a tax increase and also blasted the governor for saying one is needed to pull Illinois out of its record deficit.

"We are not going to tax our way to prosperity, we are not going to get more competitive for job growth with a tax increase," said Murphy, a Palatine Republican. "We're already one of the worst job records in the country and have been for an extended period."

Asked about signing anti-tax pledges, Murphy said he'd take that pledge "forever."

He assailed Gov. Pat Quinn's statement to the Daily Herald editorial board that a Feb. 2 primary victory would constitute a mandate to raise taxes to help solve the state's budget crisis.

Murphy called the governor's assertion "absurd."

Meanwhile, Murphy suspects the governor will push the blame for the financial mess of the state on leadership in the General Assembly and national trends during today's State of the State address.

"There will be a lot of reference, I suspect, today to the fact that all the states are in trouble," Murphy said. "But they're not all in as much trouble as we are because they haven't been as reckless, frankly, as we have been for the last eight years."

Murphy also said the governor "has made what was a bad situation to start considerably worse."