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How conservative are Johnson, Kelly?
On the side
Job change: Jessica Towhey has resigned as press secretary for U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, to join Dezenhall Resources, a Washington, D.C., public relations firm specializing in crisis management and damage control.
Towhey, who I first met in 2006, is one of the most tenacious, aggressive and entertaining people I know in politics. Johnson hasn’t named a replacement.
District leader: Brandon J. Kovach of Austintown, a student at the University of Akron, is a congressional district leader for ONE, an organization created by Bono, singer for U2, that works to reduce extreme poverty and preventable diseases.
Kovach will lobby elected leaders — particularly U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th — to promote ONE’s legislative priorities, such supporting greater democracy, accountability and transparency in developing countries.
Freshmen U.S. Reps. Bill Johnson of Marietta, R-6th, and Mike Kelly of Butler, Pa., R-3rd, proudly call themselves conservatives.
But their voting records in the House so far have failed to impress the very conservative Heritage Action of America, a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation.
Heritage Action compiled a legislative scorecard for 30 House votes and five co-sponsorships — “a comprehensive and revealing barometer of a lawmaker’s willingness to fight for conservative policies,” according to the organization.
Johnson’s score was 61 percent while Kelly received 52 percent. The average Republican score in the House was 67 percent.
“We are tough graders and we don’t apologize for it,” said Michael A. Needham, Heritage Action’s chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.
Of the 30 votes on the scorecard, Johnson sided with Heritage Action 19 times and co-sponsored one of the five items on the conservative group’s list.
Those 30 votes include repealing the federal health-care-overhaul law, eliminating funding for that law, prohibiting federal funding for National Public Radio, cuts to agricultural appropriations, reducing funding for the legislative branch by 11 percent, and passing cut, cap and balance legislation to increase the national debt limit only upon the passage of a balanced-budget constitutional amendment.
Johnson lost points for voting against legislation to reduce 2011 federal spending to 2006 levels, voting for a short-term government funding bill, against a bill to balance the budget deficit in less than 10 years, supporting a debt-limit increase in exchange for cuts, caps and the creation of a super committee to reduce the deficit, among other things.
Some of the votes counted by Heritage Action are well publicized while others are obscure such as eliminating the expansion of federal flood insurance, and overhauling the patent system.
How conservative is Heritage Action? Only 27 House members received scores above 85 percent.
The poor showing means Heritage Action believes there are a lot of fake conservatives in Congress. Kelly is likely on that list as he sided with Heritage Action on 16 of the 30 votes on the organization’s list, and one of the five co-sponsorships.
The results for the rest of the Mahoning and Shenango valleys delegation to the House are even worse.
U.S. Rep. Steven C. LaTourette of Bainbridge, R-14th, considered a moderate Republican, received a 46-percent score.
U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, Pa., D-4th, considered a moderate Democrat, got 19 percent.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, who’d never be confused for a conservative, received a 16-percent score. Heritage Action and Ryan agreed on five of the 30 votes and he didn’t co-sponsor any of the five items on the group’s list.
Two of Ryan’s votes were against legislation to increase the federal debt limit with cuts and caps. The organization also opposed those two bills, but for different reasons than Ryan. Johnson and Kelly voted in favor of the two measures.