Mike Fedele has signed up with one of President George W. Bush’s most influential supporters. The current Lieutenant Governor and Republican candidate for governor of Connecticut has signed a pledge with Americans for Tax Reform saying that he’ll never ever, ever raise taxes — no way, no how, cross my heart and hope to die.

Americans for Tax Reform is led by Grover Norquist. The organization isn’t really about reforming anything. Its ultimate goal is to ban taxes outright, especially for the rich and politically powerful. For this reason, Norquist is right up there with Jack Abramoff (though he’s never been indicted or convicted of anything) in terms of string-pulling in Washington. According to a 2005 The New Yorker profile, Norquist is largely responsible for the conservative ascendancy of the past 20 years, and he’s partly responsible for the general phobia, if not a downright career-threatening allergy, to even the hint of the idea of raising taxes.

Basically, Bush One will forever be known as a one-term president, because he had the gall to do what responsible governance called for in the early 1990s: He raised taxes. Hence: Never again shall a conservative raise taxes. So says Grover Norquist; so says everyone who signs his pledge.

Thing is, the next Nutmeg governor must give a hard, hard look to the pragmatism of raising taxes, because we just borrowed our way through another fiscal year. Doing that over and over again presents a predicament for the old gov. Joblessness is holding steady. Consumer confidence is waning. Spending has been cut to the bone already. The governors, including our own lame duck Jodi Rell, are pleading for more federal stimulus money to no avail.

Perhaps Fedele isn’t serious about being governor. After all, Americans for Tax Reform encouraged Connecticut politicians earlier this year to consider drilling for oil in the Long Island Sound. Nope. Not kidding. This proposal was made just before the epic disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which is still not under control. The Advocate looked into the idea, but: “The concept is so weird, Connecticut experts say they’ve never heard of anyone seriously looking to find out if there’s oil under the Sound.”

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