Today's Oregonian reports that Saxton has reversed positions on what he think we should do with unanticipated revenues under the Kicker law:

Saxton, who has repeatedly said he opposes any cut in the personal or corporate tax kickers, said he is now open to diverting some of that money into a rainy day fund.

Creating a state savings account is Saxton's priority, and he is open to using some, but not all, of the kicker to create an account to cushion state spending in a downturn, said his campaign spokeswoman, Angela Wilhelms.

"He wants to have a conversation about all the various options out there, and looking at the kicker is one of those discussions," she said.

While it's nice that Ron is coming into agreement with Governor Kulongoski on the importance of using additional revenues for a Rainy Day Fund, too bad that he's continuing to speak out of both sides of his mouth while he's doing it.

His press release from yesterday (already buried on his website), tries to have it both ways - attacking the Governor for suggesting we need to revisit the kicker, then suggesting we do need to revisit the kicker.

And he's still running a radio attack ad stating a proposal to divert some of the kicker is a "tax increase." We're interested in how he is going to square his new position on the kicker with his pledge to right-wing buddies to oppose any and all tax increases.

Of course, Saxton's twists and turns on the kicker are nothing new.

In 2003 he agreed with the Governor’s proposal to create a rainy day fund during a commentary on KATU in which he said, "Tie the kicker law to growth of actual revenues, and establish a rainy day fund that softens the blow in times of declining tax revenues."

And in a commentary two days later, he stated:

There are currently several proposals to redefine under what conditions the current kicker law would trigger. Other suggestions would divide revenues in excess of the economist's projections between rainy day funds, kicker refunds and spending restrictions. Almost any of these would be better than the current law.

But that, of course, was before Saxton was running for Governor. In June, he told KGW, "I don't support any change to the kicker." [6/2/06]

We can only wonder what he'll say next to try to get elected. Stay tuned!