CONGRESS Group gives Strickland, Ryan low marks

A Valley congressman says the group has influence but no credibility.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Reps. Ted Strickland and Tim Ryan are not friends to taxpayers, a conservative-leaning political watchdog organization says.
Actually, Strickland, of Lisbon, and Ryan, of Niles, are considered "hostile" toward taxpayers, according to the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste's annual congressional rating.
The organization judged House members on how they voted in 2003 on 38 issues and senators on how they voted on 25 issues related to government spending and taxes. Conservative Republicans scored the best on the survey, while liberal Democrats fared poorly.
The survey states Strickland, D-6th, and Ryan, D-17th, both voted with the organization 11 percent of the time, among the lowest for members of Congress. The pair, who represent most of the Mahoning Valley, voted with the organization on four of 38 issues.
Any percentage under 19 is considered "hostile" toward taxpayers, in the eyes of the Washington, D.C., organization, which has conducted the annual study since 1989.
Rating reliability
Strickland, who has voted with the group 16 percent of the time during his five terms in the House, says he puts no stock in the rating system.
"They're an anti-government group; not totally, but they believe in very limited government," Strickland said. "They are on the fringe of even the conservative wing of the Republican Party. They have quite a bit of influence, but they're not a credible group."
Strickland said many of the issues chosen by the organization for the survey were appropriation bills that are needed to keep the government running.
"Quite frankly, they have no credibility at all," he said.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette of Concord, R-14th, whose district includes seven northern townships in Trumbull County, received a score of 54 percent, voting with the organization 20 times out of 37 votes. LaTourette missed one of the votes used in the rating system. The group places him in the "lukewarm" category as far as his support of taxpayers. His lifetime score with the group is 60 percent.
U.S. Reps. Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, Pa., R-4th, and Phil English of Erie, Pa., R-3rd, received scores of 66 percent and 47 percent, respectively.
Hart, who represents Lawrence County and a portion of Mercer County, is rated as "friendly" toward taxpayers, while English, who represents a portion of Mercer, is "lukewarm."
Hart's lifetime score with the group is 77 percent; English's is 64 percent.
skolnick@vindy.com