Conservatives' F fodder in Senate race

WASHINGTON -- When claiming that U.S. Sen. John Boozman is not a faithful conservative, his opponent in the Republican primary, Curtis Coleman, frequently points to Boozman's low rating from Conservative Review.

The website, launched last year, has given the Arkansas Republican an F rating, the same grade it gives to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, former House Speaker John Boehner, current Senate President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The site gave failing scores last week to 33 of the Senate's 54 Republicans. In addition, it flunked more than half of all House Republicans.

Another organization that has been issuing scorecards for four decades, the American Conservative Union, gives Boozman a lifetime rating of 89.6 percent. That's slightly lower than the marks received in the 1970s and 1980s by the original "Mr. Conservative," Barry Goldwater. But it's substantially higher than the scores of U.S. Sen. John McCain and former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole.

Boozman supporters insist he has solid conservative credentials, pointing to his high ratings from pro-gun and anti-abortion groups as well as organizations advocating free enterprise. They say the Conservative Review study ignores huge numbers of indisputably conservative votes cast by Boozman, instead highlighting those where there wasn't a clear conservative consensus.

But those trying to unseat Boozman say he consistently supports his party leadership and has failed to stop the growth of government in Washington.

The website, whose editor-in-chief is talk radio host Mark Levin, states that "Boozman has been a consistent liberal on most fiscal issues."

It faults him for repeatedly voting to raise the debt ceiling and for backing various spending measures, including the farm bill and a long-term highway funding package.

Coleman, a Little Rock businessman, ran against Boozman in 2010 and lost, finishing fifth in an eight-man race and capturing 4.9 percent of the vote. Boozman, who was serving in the U.S. House at the time, won 52.7 percent of the vote and went on that November to unseat Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat.

But this time, Coleman says he's confident he'll win if he can show Arkansans how Boozman votes. He's citing the Conservative Review score as proof that Boozman is too liberal for Arkansas.

"I think if we're effective at getting this record out and letting Arkansans see it in plain, everyday language ... I think Arkansans are going to say, 'This is not who we want representing us. This is not how we want to be represented.'"

Coleman hopes Arkansans will do what Virginia voters did in 2014 when they embraced an underfunded outsider and tossed out a key figure of the Republican establishment: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. So he's hired Zach Werrell, the architect of Cantor's defeat, as the campaign's senior adviser.

Asked if the election hinges on whether Arkansas Republicans view Boozman as a true conservative, Coleman said, "I think that's probably the heart of it."

In an interview, Boozman said he's a genuine conservative and portrayed the Conservative Review attacks as election-year maneuvering.

"I think it's just the political season and these are the type of things that happen," he said. "But I'm very proud of my record. I think I've worked really hard to represent the people of Arkansas. I've listened to their concerns ... and have really tried to represent them in the conservative manner that the people of Arkansas expect."

Boozman said right-leaning Republicans are divided on some issues.

"The highway bill's a good example," he said, referring to the five-year, $300 billion-plus funding package that Congress passed earlier this month.

The Senate approved the bill 83-16. Forty of the Senate's 54 Republicans supported the measure. Boozman voted yes; Arkansas' other U.S. senator, Tom Cotton, voted no.

"Some conservative groups don't feel like we need to be spending money on infrastructure. Other conservative groups do," Boozman said. "I feel strongly as [do] ... many, many other people that are responsible conservatives that that's money well spent, that we need to invest in our infrastructure."

Having a five-year bill will allow important road projects that had been on hold to move forward, ending years of uncertainty, Boozman argues.

Conservative Review disagrees with Boozman's assessment.

"This 1,300 page bill was introduced, 'debated', and voted on within 72 hours, making it virtually impossible that any member of Congress actually read it. It is accurate to assume that Congress is blindly spending $305 billion with little knowledge of its implications," the scorecard said. In addition, the legislation uses "budget gimmicks designed to hide the true cost of the bill."

Coleman said Boozman has a "bigger government, fiscally irresponsible voting record" and says the highway vote is just one example. He also faults Boozman for repeatedly voting to raise the debt ceiling, something that kept the government running but also cleared the way for additional deficit spending.

If elected, Coleman predicts his own votes will be similar to those cast by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, the presidential candidate who helped shut down the federal government in 2013 and has expressed a willingness to do it again if necessary to block President Barack Obama.

Both men opposed the highway bill; they are two of four people to receive A's from the website.

Conservative Review, which posts writings by Levin and other commentators, is owned by Las Vegas-based CRTV LLC, a company that recently launched Poker Central, billed as "the world's only 24/7 poker TV channel." It has a roster of writers, some of them former Capitol Hill aides, who are unhappy with the current Republican leadership.

One contributor is syndicated radio talk host Steve Deace, who was quoted recently by The New York Times as saying the Republican Party "is in an open civil war as we speak.''

Another writer is Daniel Horowitz, the website's senior editor and another strong critic of current Republican leadership. He says Republican Party bosses and the lawmakers supporting them are no longer respected.

"They've reached the point of no return and there's an irrevocable, irremediable schism within the party," he said in an interview.

The party's grass-roots activists are unhappy enough that they're ready to toss out all of the Republican establishment on Capitol Hill, he said. "I think the base has had it. They're done. They're fed up. Absolutely, they would throw everyone out."

But some Arkansas activists say Boozman has the kind of record the country needs.

"Sen. Boozman has scored very high on issues that are important to free-market voters," said David Ray, director of the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. "Those include things like support for the Keystone Pipeline, opposition to President Obama's radical environmental policies and opposing reauthorization of the corrupt Export-Import Bank." Ray's group, which advocates for free markets and less red tape, has given Boozman a lifetime score of 88 percent.

(Conservative Review notes that the highway bill included provisions to renew the Export-Import Bank's charter.)

While criticizing Boozman's fiscal record, Coleman and Conservative Review acknowledge that he's got a generally conservative record on social issues.

Arkansas activists say Boozman's social conservatism is indisputable.

"He's a great friend of ours," said Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life. "We never have to worry how he's going to vote. He's going to vote to protect life. That's what we want him to do and that's what he does. Every time."

Jerry Cox, president of pro-traditional-family-values Arkansas Family Council, said Boozman votes the right way on both social and fiscal issues. "John Boozman has always been a conservative. Period. And that includes his time in the U.S. House of Representatives and his time as a United States senator," Cox said. "I'm perplexed why any group would give Sen. Boozman an F for something he's always been known for."

But other conservative groups are less satisfied with the Arkansan's record. C̶i̶t̶i̶z̶e̶n̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶G̶r̶o̶w̶t̶h̶ Club for Growth* which advocates "shrinking the size of the federal government," gives Boozman a 71 percent lifetime rating.

And an American Conservative Union official says Boozman's annual scores have fallen sharply since his election to the Senate. The group awarded him a 79 percent in 2014.

Nonetheless, the group says it's unreasonable to give Boozman a failing grade.

"While Sen. Boozman's [American Conservative Union] rating certainly leaves room for improvement, to give him an F rating and lump him together with the likes of Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer would not be an accurate reflection of his voting record," said Ian Walters, a spokesman for the organization.

Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a former U.S. representative who worked with Boozman on Capitol Hill, said Conservative Review's definition of conservative is unreasonably narrow.

Conservative Review isn't credible when it declares which Republicans are conservatives and which aren't, Griffin said. "They use President Reagan's image and name to benefit themselves, but Ronald Reagan wouldn't qualify as a conservative under their own standard."

He predicted those questioning the incumbent's conservatism will fail. "I think that Sen. Boozman will win the primary, oh gosh, by dozens of points," Griffin said.

Werrell, Coleman's senior adviser, said Griffin and other Republican insiders are trying to convince Arkansans that Boozman's re-election is inevitable.

"They want to create an aura of inevitability to distract people," Werrell said.

But Coleman plans to take his message directly to the voters, Werrell said, adding, "If we can effectively articulate our message, they'll vote for change."

The Conservative Review scorecard is available at conservativereview.com/scorecard

The American Conservative Union's marks are posted at acuratings.conservative.org/

Americans for Prosperity's scores can be accessed at afpscorecard.org/

Club for Growth's ratings are online at clubforgrowth.org/scorecards/

SundayMonday on 12/13/2015