So Is The Candidate Who Says They're Pro-Business Really Pro-Business?
Only One Way to Find Out
By Pat Cleary Posted in Congress — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Today the NAM released its official vote ratings for the 109th Congress. Unlike some groups -- like the AFL-CIO, for example -- these determinations are not made by staff. They are done by manufacturers who are part of a Key Vote Committee -- large and small manufacturers in equal numbers. The staff tabulates them, that's all. And so you'll not see any social issues on here, only roll-up-the-sleeves issues of importance to manufacturers: Taxes, trade, legal reform, energy and the like. It's all transparent. You can see the votes on which Congress is rated and judge for yourself.
During this campaign season, you'll hear a lot of candidates claim that they support business, support manufacturing. Are they telling the truth? Click here to find out.
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So Is The Candidate Who Says They're Pro-Business Really Pro-Business? 10 Comments (0 topical, 10 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
If only the Union members saw what their membership dues went to.... running their jobs into the ground.
"Took the nickname Troll long before BlogTrolls existed..."
You're right. You'll see so many Members of Congress from dense mfg areas with pretty lousy vote ratings. They talk a really good game, but at the end of the day, their votes made us much less competitive in the global race.
Is it only manufacturers or are the service industries represented? Maybe they would have different ratings.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle
This is done by us at the NAM, so only includes votes relevant to mfg. Of course, there's some overlap, but I would suppose other groups have their own ratings.
Thanks for writing.
If you look at the bills that they're using to rate the legislators, it seems to be represent a broad swath of issues, not just ones related to manufacturing.
When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.
— Thomas Paine
All of these impact mfg, as determined by a group of our mbrs: taxes, trade, legal reform, energy mostly.
that robert byrd has a better record than lincoln chaffee.
Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. -Ronald Reagan
On ratings like these, the first thing I always check is how Ron Paul scored. For the last 3 congresses he scored in the 45%-63% range. Not anti-business but not exactly pro either (according to NAM). Looking at specific votes of this congress (the 45% one), I only saw 2 votes that I would possibly disagree with (Its always difficult to tell from only a synopsis). I am a small business owner, service not manufacturing, so maybe that makes a difference.
My Rep (an R) scored very high (90% range) and I call her the "Queen of Pork" and dont vote for her whenever there is an option (I have 3 options other than R and D this year - at least 2 of which I would vote for before my Rep).
Mary Bono, 91%. Interesting. And her two votes against were to oppose federal restrictions on state regulation of food labelling (apparently), and to oppose opening up deep offshore drilling to the states to decide.
So for what I'd call the big stuff, she's there. Well, I'll keep that in mind. I'd rather someone else fill that seat, but at least SOME people think she's good, heh.
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If you're seeing shades of gray, it's because you're not looking close enough to see the black and white dots.