There’s so much I could write about this topic tonight, but I’m tired and gonna call it a day after this quick post.
Simply put, I thought it “interesting” that today a few House colleagues filed a bill saying we (General Assembly) should grade the Governor.
Really??
There’s a lot of gamemanship/partisanship in politics and that’s simply all today’s bill is; but when you stop and think about it….our Governor received 690,525 votes last November.
Individual House members? Almost all received only between 6,000 to 10,000.
While I certainly understand some colleagues opinions that the only “grade” that matters is their constituents; let’s not get carried away. Anyone can see the Governor’s scorecard is much more fair than several other scorecards out there. Ask anyone about other scorecards and you’ll hear they are “all Republican issues” or “all Democrat issues”….National Rifle Association, BIPEC (Business and Industry), Club for Growth, Conservation Voters, SC Education Association.
I’m willing to wager that even the most liberal of members could/should score a passing grade…which is FAR higher than all of us score on those other scorecards several perceive as being “biased”?
Take a quick look at the 12 items currently on the Governor’s Scorecard:
Voting on the Record (passed House with 104 votes)
Department of Administratrion (passed House with 96 votes)
Governor and Lt. Governor on same ticket (passed with 106 votes)
Tort Reform (passed with 100 votes)
Income Disclosures (not voted yet…don’t see this as “Republican” or “Democrat”)
72 hour wait on final buget vote (not voted yet…don’t see this as “Repulbican” or “Democrat”)
HHS Medicaid Provison (not voted yet…SC is the ONLY state that hasn’t granted this yet…again, not R or D)
Merge PPP into Corrections (not voted yet…haven’t heard many against)
Vetoes on Local Legislation (only had one so far and sustained with 112 votes)
I could maybe concede that the other three items COULD be viewed as “conservative” over “liberal” issues: Spending Caps, Supertintendent of Education, Vetoes on Budget. But, c’mon, in all fairness 9 out of 12 should be “no-brainers”.
If someone can argue that I’m wrong in my belief those 9 are NOT slanted for/against any party, please let me know. Those are simply “good government”. Any voter in the state should tell you that…and some of those items have already passed the House with more than 20 Democrats supporting.
Clearly, the Governor’s scorecard is not partisan, nor personal (see her letter)
Today’s bill on the other hand….well, you decide.
If you’re curious, there were only FIVE House Members (out of a body of 124) elected by more than 12,000 voters last November: Bill Herbkersman (15,633), Ralph Norman (15,077), Todd Atwater (13,486), me (13,214), Mike Sottile (12,389).