No, none of ours made that august winners' circle -- although Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine, came within a hair's breadth of inclusion, but for a single "wrong" vote cast, according to the WMC's scorecard. Vos' 95% rating far exceeded anything else achieved by other Racine lawmakers. Rep. Scott Gunderson, R- Waterford, also scored 95%.
Three local lawmakers received dismal ratings from the WMC: Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, got a 40% rating, having voted "wrong" according to the WMC on 12 out of 20 votes tallied; Rep. Bob Turner, D-Racine, best not even show his face near the WMC: he got only four votes "right" out of the 20 tallied. In the Senate, things weren't going any better for Sen. John Lehman. Only 14 votes were tallied, and he voted "right" on just three of them, for a 21% ranking.
The one issue that tripped up Vos was Senate Bill 431, Unemployment Insurance Benefits, the last of the 20 issues WMC tallied. "This bill adjusts the taxable wage base for all Wisconsin employers and shifts revenues to the systems’ solvency fund. The bill increases the amount of time that Unemployment Insurance claimants must have worked in order to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits, and also freezes UI benefit levels at current levels until 2009."
The WMC wanted a "yes" vote but Vos voted "no," ruining his perfect record. Gunderson also lost his perfect record on this issue.
“Legislators who stand up for jobs time and again – especially with a slowing economy – are the true friends of working families,” said James A. Buchen, WMC vice president of government relations. “These legislators are stalwart defenders of jobs for our families.”
In total, 65 lawmakers will receive WMC’s “Working for Wisconsin Award” for earning a 65 percent or higher WMC voting record.
Since 2000, Wisconsin has lost nearly 100,000 manufacturing jobs, which pay high wages and provide the best benefits, Buchen said.
Last month, the Sierra Club rated lawmakers on their environmental records. The winners and losers on their scorecard tended to be the opposite from those on the WMC's.
These voting scorecards -- and there are lots of 'em -- are all pretty pointless. The special interest organizations that compile them ALWAYS use a very narrow set of votes that they see as "right" or "wrong."
ReplyDeleteThe only folks who routinely pay attention to the voting scorecards are lazy voters and lazier news media outlets. Oh, and radio talk show hosts. Can't forget them.