The UNOFFICIAL 2013 Ratings of the Nevada Legislature were released last night at the First Friday Happy Hour event at Stoney’s…and there’s some real ammunition in them that conservative challengers to some incumbent legislators will be able to use in the upcoming primary races.
There is one bill still in question that Citizen Outreach CEO Dan Burdish and I are debating, but Dan will likely get his way – as he usually does, because he’s the level-headed one in the outfit!
Which means the unofficial ratings are likely to become the official ratings in a few days – at which time we’ll also release the complete list of some 50 bills used for the ratings along with an explanation as to why they were included.
Some interesting notes…
Not surprisingly, freshman Assemblywoman Michele Fiore came out on top, landing the #1 conservative rating with a score of 84.62. Conservative Assemblyman Jim Wheeler came in at #2 with a rating of 75.47, and Assemblyman John Ellison landed the #3 slot with a rating of 71.15.
At the bottom of the heap for Republicans in the Assembly, to no one’s surprise, was liberal Assemblyman Lynn Stewart – a career big-government tax-hiker – with a putrid rating of 38.46. You can bet his GOP primary opponent, Richard Bunce, is going to use that rating to maximum effect in their race.
But shockingly, Stewart was not the worst-voting Republican in the Assembly. That distinction fell to freshman Assemblyman Paul Anderson (30.00 rating), who many believe is angling to wrest the GOP caucus leadership position from Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey.
Anderson is beloved by that liberal “political guru who runs a website,” (oh, how the mighty have fallen) Jon Ralston. Now we know why!
Hickey’s score, by the way, isn’t much better. With a rating of just 46.15, you can bet his conservative GOP primary opponent, Rick Fineberg, is going to be loaded for bear.
But at least Hickey beat out his second banana, moderate Assistant Minority Leader Cresent Hardy, whose 40.38 rating is going to be grist for conservative Niger Innis’ mill in the 4th congressional district GOP primary next June.
And Assemblyman Randy “Kirner Tax” Kirner (RINO-Kirner Tax) is gonna have fun explaining his 50.00 rating in his own Republican primary race against conservative Tax Pledge signers Lisa Krasner and Robb Archie.
The top-rated Assembly Democrat was Elliot Anderson, with a score of 15.69. The lowest-rated Assembly Democrats were Heidi Swank and Andy Eisen, tied with scores of 1.92.
Over on the Senate side, conservative state Sen. Don Gustavson was the #1 rated Republican in the senate with a rating of 66.04, while conservative Sen. James Settelmeyer landed the #2 slot with a rating of 59.62, and Sen. Barbara Cegavske – GOP candidate for Secretary of State – chalked up the #3 position with a score of 54.72.
These are not exactly stellar scores, and likely a result of really lousy left-leaning leadership by Tax Pledge-breaking Senate Minority Leader Michael Roberson, whose embarrassingly low rating of 35.85 will surely be used against him by his GOP primary opponent Carl Bunce.
And…hooo-weeee…is Sen. Mark Hutchison ever in a heap of trouble!
The man who made his political career out of suing to block ObamaCare – only to vote repeatedly to implement the program once elected to the Legislature – came in dead last among Republican senators with a rating of just 32.69, tied with freshman moderate government employee Sen. Scott Hammond.
By the way, the real problem for Hutchison isn’t just his Citizen Outreach rating – which folks like Ralston, noting that Burdish and I are political allies of Hutch’s opponent, Sue Lowden, will try to claim was “fixed” to hurt Hutch.
No, no. His score is absolutely legitimate…and consistent with the ratings of two other conservative organizations – the Nevada Policy Research Institute and the American Conservative Union – both of which also rated Hutchison as the worst-voting Republican in the state senate!
The top Democrat in the Senate is my favorite liberal – even though he voted wrong almost 90 percent of the time last session – Sen. Tick Segerblom with a score of 11.76. At the bottom of the barrel for Senate Democrats is David Parks, another personal friend but no friend of taxpayers and limited government, with a score of 7.69.
And then there’s Gov. Brian “BS” Sandoval (R&R Partners)…
With a score of 29.79, he is the absolute worst Republican in all of Carson City, even worse than Paul Anderson!
And the fact that the Man with No Agenda who has broken his promises on tax hikes multiple times and is now running one of the most dishonest re-election campaigns in Nevada history is the “titular head” of the GOP is another reason why so many Republican legislators chalked up such low scores in 2013.
While many in the media…well, actually just Ralston – but he’s not really in “the media” any longer; he’s just a blogger…will ridicule and pooh-pooh the Citizen Outreach ratings, the fact is they expose elected representatives for what they really are based on their VOTING RECORD, not their campaign rhetoric.
And unlike some liberal groups that cherry-pick just a handful of votes, the Citizen Outreach ratings are based on over 50 recorded votes (with one bonus point awarded to legislators who signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge).
Voters – especially GOP primary voters – can now weigh what an incumbent says on the campaign trail vs. how he or she actually voted in Carson City. These folks might try to run from their record, but thanks to the Citizen Outreach ratings – along with those of NPRI and ACU – they can’t hide.
To see the full UNOFFICIAL results, Click here
