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
By freddie guy January 14, 2010 at 8:10 am
The State of South Carolina got to find out yesterday just how effective the “A” students in the Senate are. The scorecard results are in…
They have “ZERO” effectiveness. Their little Health Care hoax did not go over very well. Hopefully the point was to get Mulvaney a little attention…
even the success of that is VERY debatable…
The Senate “A” students need to go back to review the beginners book of “Being an Effective Legislator”. …and someone needs to put away the “How to grandstand” manual they were all reading from yesterday.
Fred
By Toyota Kawaski January 14, 2010 at 8:21 am
Oh great another useless list from a useless group!
By Eric January 14, 2010 at 8:51 am
Sic, how is SC doing? This this a better performance than last year or worse? I would love to be seeing a trend from say 10 to 15. May be slow, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.
By Kiss it January 14, 2010 at 8:54 am
Rex Rice has always voted for what he believes, not what the special interest tells him to. He is practical, not political. Ask him why he voted the way he did in 08 and you might not be so harsh to judge.
The Club for Growth wants total, unrestricted free trade with China and everyone else in the world, for example…they may have good ideas but they have consequences. Inform yourself about the issues before you let a special interest do it for you.
By Mac Gargan January 14, 2010 at 9:32 am
Jeff Duncan has consistently been a leader in the house for fiscal conservatism. Rex Rice on the other hand, another election year “conservative”. If Rice goes to Washington, the people in the 3rd District will lose the strong voice they had in Barrett, and it will be replaced by another wishy-washy Republican.
That’s fine that Rice “votes for what he believes in”, but so does Duncan, and I think the people of SC agree with him and heck of a lot more than they agree with Rex Rice. If you’re not a conservative fine! But don’t pretend to be. Pretending to be sounds a little like “politics” to me.
By Mac is confused January 14, 2010 at 10:00 am
Mac, I am afraid you are confused. Duncan appears to be a politician that is more concerned about what others think about his voting record than true conservatism.
He always seems to be somewhere else when the tough votes come around. Couldn’t help but notice that he was missing during the censure vote yesterday… wonder where he was on the second day of the new session.
He is not the kind of leader that I want in Washington.
By Weighing In January 14, 2010 at 10:27 am
Duncan may vote for what he believes in (or what gets him elected) but he is a hypocrite at the highest peak. And all of the people that the club named, only about 3 of them are effective if at all. No one cares about Chad Waldorf’s in SC. They didn’t last year and won’t next year. Go back to making average ribs and charging to much for them.
By Make it up as you go. January 14, 2010 at 10:52 am
The appologists are out in full force today. I wonder what is going to happen when SC starts defaulting on debt that was created by all this “effectiveness”.
By Liberty For Me January 14, 2010 at 11:09 am
Our politicians are in office to vote the way we want them to vote.
A voting scorecard should be the standard to what you carry into the booth to make your decisions.
I understand that media, and bombardment of advertising sways peoples minds…But that is all moot in the end.
If people had voted in previous elections based on politicians actions towards their beliefs, instead of their appearance or personality we would not be in the shit mess we are in.
Wake up people!!Don’t be fooled by smoke and mirrors.Vote according to a politicians record and expose those who vote to betray Liberty.(Graham,Bush,Obama) especially those in state and local.
Thanks fits for exposing frauds consistently…You take flack,but know its an important fight.
By Mac Gargan January 14, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Jeff Duncan was there and voted to censure the Governor
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/cgi-bin/query.exe?first=DOC&querytext=censure&category=House&sess_year=2010&conid=5221279&result_pos=0&keyval=H11820100113
Next time you make something up, try to pick something that’s more difficult to prove isn’t true.
By Just one man talking here January 14, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I may be just one man talking here, but if you listen to what ‘Kiss it’ is saying about Rex Rice, then I have some issues with Rex. When he says, “Rex Rice has always voted for what he believes, not what the special interest tells him to. He is practical, not political”. Then why in 2008 did he have a C conservative rating? I guess that means he voted against conservative legislation because he does not believe in being conservative – using your words ‘always voting for what he believes’. Furthermore, it alarms me how much of a difference his voting record was in 08′ and 09′ when he decided to run for Congress. I guess in 09′ he believed it was more important to run for Congress than stay true to his moderate views.
Now i’m just one man venting here, but we have enough RINOs in Congress and SC. I don’t know who I like in the 3rd race, but i’ll tell you if Rex can not even be conservative in South Carolina how in heck can he become conservative against Pelosi and Reid liberals in Washington?
By Liberty For Me January 14, 2010 at 1:51 pm
“Kiss it” Yeah,free trade is a crazy idea…I really miss the days when buying a new TV was like buying a car.. you almost had to take out a loan.
Now you are going to tell me that high unemployment is caused by china having our jobs.HMMM which would I rather have a 80% cheaper cost of goods or a bunch of asshole union workers drivng new Cadillacs on my dime.
I am so unpatriotic not to want to look out for my neighbor huh?
By Weighing In January 14, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Actually if you read the link Mac, Duncan came in late, how late we don’t know and did not vote at all for the adoption of the censure amendment but only for the adoption of the resolution. It could be construed that Duncan showed up just in time to vote aye, without as so much participating in the debate.
By Sicster January 14, 2010 at 6:10 pm
How the heck do you get a negative score?
By Jeffy January 15, 2010 at 10:35 am
I am sure the voters will be excited to see this info. Nobody cares what CFG thinks. Same with that BIPEC drivel.
By carolinabuckeye January 20, 2010 at 9:37 pm
I might be too late, but we don’t need another Lindsey Graham (Rex) in Congress, we need a DeMint (Duncan). Duncan is a guy I can trust to hold my wallet, can’t say the same about Rex.