By Jared Edgerton, Contributing Writer

Yesterday, in his first campaign stop in New Hampshire as an official candidate for President, Senator Rick Santorum joined Grover Norquist to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

Candidates signing onto the Pledge, written by the Americans for Tax Reform, promise to “oppose and veto any effort to raise taxes.”

Santorum spoke at the event stating that, “Americans deserve a president who believes in them again, and today I am publicly committing to the American taxpayer that I believe that they know how to better spend their hard-earned money than Washington does…I have always admired the great work Grover Norquist and the entire Americans for Tax Reform team have done in keeping public officials accountable to their responsibility of being stewards of the People’s money, and I am anxious for the opportunity to bring fiscal responsibility back to Washington.”

It’s practically a standard stop on the road Republicans take to almost every significant elected office in the country.

Santorum is the third GOP presidential hopeful to sign the Pledge this election cycle, joining former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.

In 2008 Governor Mitt Romney was the first prominent candidate to sign the pledge, later being joined by all candidates except Senator Fred Thompson and Senator John McCain, who went on to be the Republican Presidential nominee.

However, McCain did sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in 2000. This time around Norquist believes that all the GOP Presidential candidates intend to sign the pledge.

Santorum signed the ATR Pledge as a member of the House of Representatives and later as a Senator. Norquist expressed gratitude that Santorum is reaffirming his commitment, saying, “I am delighted that Senator Santorum is continuing his long-standing commitment to the American taxpayer.  This commitment from candidates for President is more important now than ever, as the Obama Administration has set in motion a dangerous precedent of imposing new taxes on our economy and threatening to allow existing tax rates to expire should they be re-elected.”

Although all GOP presidential hopefuls seem poised to sign Norquist’s pledge, his policies are sometimes viewed as controversial, especially by those on the left. Critics of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge allege that it promotes hyper-partisanship; citing examples such as Norquist call for the GOP members in the bi-partisan “Gang of Six,” a group of Senators (three Republicans and three Democrats) trying to find a compromise budget, to disband, saying that if they support a tax hike, “they lied to their voters in order to get elected.”

Norquist’s pledge has helped him garner widespread influence, even in Pennsylvanian state politics. Currently thirty-four state representatives, and Governor Corbett have signed the pledge, which was recently spotlighted after Norquist’s offered an unsolicited ruling that the proposed “impact fee” on fracking was a tax.

After Santorum signed the pledge he toured the Central Paper business and explained how as president he would use tax breaks for small business to strengthen the economy.