Mass. Dems bash Sen. Scott Brown on ethanol vote

Massachusetts Democrats are attacking Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) for his vote Tuesday in favor of repealing a major ethanol industry tax break, alleging the vote broke with Brown’s signed pledge to a major conservative group not to raise taxes.

Brown — who faces reelection in the typically blue Bay State next year — voted with 33 other Republicans and six Democrats for Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) amendment, which fell well short of the 60 votes needed.

“During his campaign for U.S. Senate, Scott Brown told voters what he thought they wanted to hear and now that he’s in Washington, he’s breaking promises right and left,” said Massachusetts Democratic Party spokesman Kevin Franck in a statement.

Brown, ahead of his upset 2010 Senate win, touted his signing of the group Americans for Tax Reform’s (ATR) “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” which states that he would opposes tax hikes and “any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

The group, headed by influential conservative Grover Norquist, has said repeal of ethanol industry tax breaks would violate the pledge unless paired with a separate amendment sponsored by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).

(Check out our pieces here and here for ATR’s position on the ethanol vote.)

Franck also noted that most Republicans voted for the Coburn plan. “It’s starting to seem like Scott Brown’s main objective in Washington is to follow the Republican herd, not serve the best interests of the Commonwealth,” he said.