As members of the South Carolina House of Representatives embark on the 2020 legislative session (and prepare for reelection campaigns later this year), one limited government group is assessing how well they performed in 2019. The Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina – a grassroots group which exists “to advance the principles of individual rights, limited government, and free markets” – has issued its 2019 legislative scorecard for GOP House members.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the vast majority of Republican representatives did not fare well on its rankings.
Only eight state representatives – Bill Chumley, Jonathon Hill, Stewart Jones, Steven Long, Josiah Magnuson, Adam Morgan, Tommy Stringer and Ashley Trantham – earned a perfect 100 percent score on the group’s ten key votes from last year.
Meanwhile two representatives – Neal Collins of Easley, S.C. and William Cogswell of Charleston, S.C. – earned a “zero” score for missing all ten of these votes.
The organization – which did not rank any Democratic lawmakers – has yet to release its scorecard for the 27 Republican members of the S.C. Senate.
On average, GOP House members got it wrong more often than they got it right according to this organization – scoring worse than 50 percent on its key votes.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Republican Liberty Caucus of South Carolina)
“As the scorecard shows, most South Carolina State House Representatives are not voting in favor of personal liberty, limited government, or a free market,” a letter from caucus leader Justin Alexander noted. “While the Upstate delegation, and a few other high scoring Representatives are advancing the liberty agenda, the overall average score was a dismal 48 percent.”
As this news outlet has often noted, scorecards from advocacy organizations are to be taken with oceans of salt (irrespective of their ideological orientations). For example, this particular scorecard claims to constitute a referendum on the extent to which state representatives support limited government – yet it failed to take into account how these lawmakers voted on the fiscal year 2019-2020 state budget.
Certainly we were pleased to see the group take a stand against a multi-million dollar crony capitalist giveaway for the National Football League (NFL)’s Carolina Panthers – while taking a stand for pro-Second Amendment legislation.
We were also pleased to see its scorecard include sponsorship of broad-based parental choice legislation backed by S.C. senator Tom Davis as part of its litmus test.
And while we embrace its uncompromising advocacy on behalf of life – the “indispensable liberty” – it is worth noting this news outlet did support exemptions to the anti-abortion “heartbeat bill” that cleared the S.C. House last spring thanks to the advocacy of state representative Nancy Mace of Daniel Island, S.C.
Mace, incidentally, scored a 60 percent on the group’s key votes.
What will become of this legislation in the Senate? Good question …
In the meantime, we will keep our eyes peeled for the Senate rankings from this organization as well as any other legislative scorecards which we believe warrant readers’ attention …
-FITSNews
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
