By fitsnews – January 14, 2010
Stop the presses …
South Carolina’s “Republican-controlled” General Assembly includes only a handful of lawmakers who actually vote in keeping with the GOP’s fiscally-conservative rhetoric – one reason state government has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade while the Palmetto State’s economy remains stuck in neutral.
If you’re new to FITS, that news might be somewhat surprising to you. If you’re one of our regular readers, you’re probably muttering “what else is new?” under your breath right now.
Anyway, according to legislative scorecards released Wednesday by the S.C. Club for Growth, only fifteen out of 170 S.C. lawmakers earned fiscally-conservative grades of ‘A’ or higher.
In the State Senate, Lee Bright, Kevin Bryant, Mick Mulvaney, Greg Ryberg and Tom Davis all received ‘A’ grades, with Bright and Bryant receiving a perfect ’100′ score.
In the the S.C. House, Eric Bedingfield, Joey Millwood, Rex Rice, Jeff Duncan, Nikki Haley, Tommy Stringer, Tim Scott, Nathan Ballentine, Thad Viers and Wendy Nanney all received ‘A’ grades.
Rice, incidentally, received a ‘C’ rating in 2008 – which means his voting record has improved significantly since he decided to run for South Carolina’s Third Congressional District a year ago. Meanwhile Jeff Duncan, another ‘A-lister’ running for the Third District in 2010, also received an ‘A’ grade in 2008.
Take that for what it’s worth.
Much more relevant to our purposes were the scores received by South Carolina’s “Republican in Name Only (RINO)” politicians.
In total, thirty-nine “Republican” S.C. House members and thirteen “Republican” State Senators received grades of ‘F’ or lower.
And unlike other credibility-challenged scorecards that were created for the sole purpose of sucking up to powerful legislative leaders, the Club’s rankings pulled no punches.
Accordingly, key “Republican” leaders – including powerful Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, Senate President Glenn McConnell, Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell and House Ways & Means Chairman Danny Cooper – all earned grades of ‘F’ or lower. House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee Chairman Bill Sandifer received the second-lowest score of any Republican.
How did your lawmaker do?
Click on the links below to find out …
WEB EXTRA
2009 SC Club for Growth Senate Scorecard
2009 SC Club for Growth House Scorecard
