From Amir Iljazi on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 9:01 AM

Businessman Jim Ward became the first candidate to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in his 2010 bid to represent Arizona’s 5th Congressional district.

Ward is a GOP Primary candidate looking to take on incumbent, Harry Mitchell, who was elected in 2006 after defeating J.D. Hayworth. The seat is rated by Cook Political Report as R+5 on their PVI index, and Hayworth had held the seat for more than a decade prior to Mitchell’s win. Arizona’s 5th Congressional district is just one of a slew of seats where pledge signing challengers are taking on non-pledge signing incumbents from vulnerable districts.

Ward, the first pledge signer in the race, has made a commitment to the taxpayers in the 5th Congressional District in Arizona that he will fight to stop massive tax increases imposed by a reckless Congress. We here at ATR encourage all candidates seeking Federal office to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and let the taxpayers in this country know that they stand with them; against higher taxes, higher spending, and higher deficits.

Here’s ATR’s official statement on Jim Ward signing the Pledge:

Jim Ward(R-Ariz.) signs the Taxpayer Protection Pledge
Congressional candidate promises to protect taxpayers’ wallets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Jim Ward, a Republican running in Arizona’s 5th Congressional district, recently signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The Pledge commits signers to “oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses … and oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

ATR has offered the Pledge to all candidates for federal office since 1987. To date, 33 U.S. senators and 172 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have signed the Pledge. Additionally, seven Governors and over 1,100 state legislators have signed the Pledge.

“After the passage of the so-called “Stimulus Package,” better known as the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Spending Give-Away, Americans are desperately searching for candidates and politicians that will protect their livelihoods and put their wallets ahead of the federal government’s coffers,” said Grover Norquist, president of ATR.

“By signing the Pledge, Jim Ward demonstrates that he understands the problems of hard-working taxpayers nationwide, but especially the taxpayers in Arizona’s 5th Congressional district.”

“I challenge all candidates for federal office to make the same commitment to taxpayers by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge today,” Norquist continued.

Copies of the Pledge are available at www.atr.org or by calling (202) 785-0266.

To see ATR’s official statement on Jim Ward, click here.