FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News From Progress Michigan
Monday, April 16, 2012
Contact: Zack Pohl, (517) 980-6190, zack@progressmichigan.org
LANSING – Last week, candidate for U.S. Senate and career politician Pete Hoekstra abandoned women and our nation’s founding principles by calling the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act a “nuisance” before adding “it shouldn’t be law.” Today, Pete Hoekstra abandoned all working Michiganders by appearing at Herman Cain’s “Revolution on the Hill” rally and becoming the first Senate candidate to formally endorse his 9-9-9 plan, a plan that would raise taxes on 84% of U.S. households while reducing rates for the wealthiest Americans.
Pete Hoekstra’s positions stand in stark contrast to our nation’s founding principles, and citizen’s advocacy group Progress Michigan is encouraging all Michigan citizens to write Pete Hoekstra a letter telling him to get real and stand up for working Michiganders.
“Pete Hoekstra just doesn’t get it,” said Zack Pohl, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “After calling fair pay legislation for women ‘a nuisance,’ today Hoekstra endorsed a radical tax plan that would raise taxes on Michigan’s middle class. It’s time for Hoekstra to get real and start standing up for the middle class, not just rich CEOs like Herman Cain.”
Below is a brief history of Pete Hoekstra’s hypocrisy and track record on wage discrimination. Michiganders can tell Pete Hoekstra to get real here: www.GetRealPeteHoekstra.com
- Hoekstra voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to prevent wage discrimination. [Roll Call 37, S 181, 01/27/2009; CO House Action Reports Legislative Week, 1/26/09]
- Hoekstra flip-flopped within days on his vote for the Wall Street bailout, voting no on the initial legislation then switching his vote to approve the $700 billion handout to Wall Street banks.
- When he was running for governor, Pete said he wanted a tax code that worked for the taxpayers, “not for special interests and not for lobbyists.” Less than a year after losing that election, he had gone to work for a Washington lobbying firm.
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