From the Harris campaign:
Zanesville, Ohio (Mar. 22, 2006) – The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), two major anti-spending taxpayer watchdog groups, publish ratings and scorecards on Congressional votes, giving letter or percentage grades to Congressmen based upon their voting history on pork, taxes, budgets, and overspending in general. In their most recent report cards published on their websites, these national Taxpayer watchdogs give mediocre marks to Congressman Ney.
For example, in their most recently posted Congressional Rating (108th Congress, 2nd Session, 2004), the National Taxpayers Union rates Congress and gives Ney a grade of C or 52%. By comparison, the Republican House and Senate averages were 10 to 20 points higher, while the median score for both parties in the House and Senate was between 46-49%, near Ney. Senators DeWine and Voinovich received scores of C+ (57%) and B- (60%) respectively. Ney’s NTU scores have been similar in previous years, sometimes even lower, as in the 1998 Rating in which Ney received a C- or 47%. CAGW’s affiliate, The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), “America’s #1 Congressional Watchdog”, also gives mediocre marks to “Representative #1”. In the most recently published scorecard on its website, CCAGW scores the 108th Congress (2004), and gives 47 Congressmen an “A” grade, including the well known Congressmen Flake (90%), Toomey, Sensenbrenner, Tancredo, Chabot, Cox, Pence, and Hayworth. The CCAGW gives Rep. Ney a score of 49% or “C”, which is deemed by them “Lukewarm”, closer to “Unfriendly” than “Friendly”. The calculations are based upon specific ranked legislation on which Ney’s votes were tallied as “Voted right way” or “Voted wrong way”. According to the CCAGW, Ney voted the “wrong way” twenty times on forty key votes. See appendix below.
The National Taxpayers Union publishes candidate answers to a survey about voting intentions regarding taxes and spending, and in their latest posting, 2004 Congressional Candidate Survey - Answers, the NTU reports that Ney answered “NO” to several questions, and “UNDECIDED” to #4:
3. SOCIAL SECURITY CHOICE… Ney answered “NO”
10. OPPOSE INTERNET TAXATION… Ney answered “NO”
11. RESPONSIBLE BILL SPONSORSHIP… Ney answered “NO”
“4. SPENDING RESTRAINT. I will work and vote for a freeze in total non-defense discretionary spending during the next two fiscal years. I will not vote for any budgetary gimmicks (such as claiming non-emergency spending as emergency spending) and will not vote to waive budgetary rules restraining taxes and spending.” Ney answered “UNDECIDED”.
Ney’s campaign tries to undermine his primary challenger, James Brodbelt Harris, CFA, claiming he has an unusual message or another agenda. Harris responds that his only agenda is to reign in government spending, slim down our obese government, and lower government taxation and debt, and says Ney voted against the recent Republican Budget bill several times. Harris says, “I’ve personally met thousands of like minded Republicans in the 18th District who want someone to limit spending and to be frugal with our tax money. This is my real Reagan Republican agenda and my campaign is straight shooting duping no one. I’m just a citizen who cares about America. You could say I’m much like the average Republican taxpayer with a very simple message for the incumbent: “Congressman Ney, Stop Spending My Money.”
This is actually a pretty good argument...the press release was still 17 pages long, but the argument was actually pretty rational.
