Website's low marks vex Capitol Hill's Arkansans

WASHINGTON -- Conservative Review isn't just giving failing marks to U.S. Sen. John Boozman. The website also gave F's to all four members of the Arkansas delegation in the U.S. House.

Only U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton fared slightly better, receiving a low C.

Republican senatorial candidate Curtis Coleman has touted the scorecard in his campaign, using it as a barometer of incumbent Boozman's conservatism. The scores also have been fodder on conservative talk radio in Arkansas.

Doc Washburn, who has a daily talk show on radio station KARN-FM, 102.9, in Little Rock, cited the scorecard repeatedly on the air as he worked to recruit people to challenge delegation members seeking re-election in the March 1 Republican primary.

In an interview, he said the scorecard shows that Arkansas' delegation members have voted to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government running instead of telling President Barack Obama "no" and forcing him to give in.

"A lot of people don't realize that this is not some new invention, that there were government shutdowns under Bill Clinton, and there were government shutdowns under Ronald Reagan. This is part of the give and take of Congress trying to compromise with the president. ... It's the way our system's set up," he said. "I don't understand how we ever turn things around and restore our government to fiscal sanity as long as we're supporting leadership that basically funds everything that this president wants."

Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, who previously served as the 2nd District representative, said none of the Arkansans serving on Capitol Hill are left-wing. "We have, certainly, differing views within the delegation but everyone in the delegation is a conservative, by any reasonable standard," he said. "Most of the differences within the Republican Party ... are not a matter of conservative versus less conservative versus moderate versus liberal. Most of the differences are merely differences of strategy in how a particular group would go about getting a conservative agenda enacted."

Delegation members said they're doing their best to advance the conservative agenda at a time when Democrats control the White House.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman said bills in the Arkansas Legislature, where he previously served, addressed only one topic at a time and it was easier to determine which vote was appropriate.

On Capitol Hill, pieces of legislation are sometimes thousands of pages long and can involve multiple issues.

"In Congress, you get these complicated bills," the Hot Springs Republican said. "Sometimes you have to look at the whole bill and say, 'Does this bill move the ball down the field further in the conservative direction ... or is it going backwards?'"

Several delegation members said they were unfamiliar with the group doing the scoring.

And some said they were puzzled by the votes that the website selected for its barometer of conservative orthodoxy, adding that hundreds of conservative votes had been overlooked.

Second District U.S. Rep. French Hill said he agreed with Conservative Review on six of the nine issues listed on the scorecard in early December, yet the group had given him a D.

Since the interview, Conservative Review has added more votes to its scorecard and has downgraded several lawmakers, including Hill, to an F rating.

The Little Rock Republican said the site faulted him for voting for House Speaker John Boehner (Boehner received all but 25 of the Republican votes cast); backing a bill giving Obama authority to negotiate the terms of a trade deal (free trade is conservative, Hill said); and supporting another measure dealing with changes to entitlement programs. (Hill said the law will help the nation by "lowering our national debt and controlling mandatory spending.")

Hill said there are better yardsticks for measuring his conservative bona fides. "My score in [the Americans for Prosperity group] is 86 percent. I have a 100 percent score with the National Right to Life. I have an A rating from the National Rifle Association."

Cotton, the only Arkansan receiving passing marks on the scorecard, downplayed the significance of rating systems.

"There are a lot of groups that rank officeholders, and I frankly put what Arkansans think and what I think is best for Arkansans before anything else," he said. "I can't keep track of what every person says or [or how everyone] ranks me. I'd never get done reading all the negative comments about me in the media."

Asked for his reaction to the scorecard, 1st District U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford said, "These outside groups that make these outlandish claims, they don't live in Arkansas and they don't reflect the views of our district so there's no point in responding to what they say."

Westerman, who questioned the validity of the scoring system, said that criticism comes with the job. "When you get into politics, you're the object of a lot of people's freedom of expression," he said. "I don't fault people for their beliefs or what they say, but I know in my heart of hearts, I'm conservative and look out for the interests of people in my district."

SundayMonday on 12/13/2015