Denver, CO – The Republican Liberty Caucus of Colorado recently posted its 2020 legislative scorecard in time for the Republican Caucuses on Saturday, March 7, 2020.
Thousands of grassroots Republicans will attend precinct caucuses across the state to select delegates that will later choose who will run in Republican primaries. Traditionally, these are conservative-leaning Republicans who expect their legislators to uphold conservative values.
Unfortunately, more than a dozen currently elected Republican legislators are failing to represent conservatives in their districts.
If you are attending a caucus, you may want to refer to this scorecard to judge how well your current legislator is voting.
As far as we are concerned, it is unacceptable to vote against freedom and liberty as an elected Representative. These voting records are an embarrassment to conservative Republicans who elected these Senators and Representatives to promote freedom, not take it away from the people.
These 16 Republicans received F grades for voting against liberty and the people.
Republican Senators who received F’s for their poor voting records:
- Don Coram (50)
- Larry Crowder (52)
- Robert Gardner (58)
- Owen Hill (56)
- Dennis Hisey (54)
- Kevin Priola (43)
- Robert Rankin (51)
- Jerry Sonnenberg (56)
- Jack Tate (38)
Republican Representatives who received F’s for their poor voting records:
- Richard Holtorf (52)
- Lois Landgraf (50)
- Colin Larson (52)
- Rodney Pelton (54)
- Matt Soper (59)
- Perry Will (49)
- James Wilson (54)
Senators Ray Scott (60) and Rob Woodward (60) barely squeaked by with D’s, but that is no reason to brag. Only two Democrats scored higher than 35.
The fact that 16 elected Republicans consistently fail to uphold the tenants of limited government and freedom at the Colorado State Capitol astounds us.
Are they lying to voters about their support for conservative values? Is there an elected official on this list that you thought you supported, but now you may not? Let us know in the comments and on social media.
If you are attending a caucus Saturday, you may want to keep these scores handy. We will cover these scores in further detail throughout the week.
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Boy big disapointment! Jerry Sonnenberg and Jack Tate. I Hope the Colorado Citizen Press will publish why they scored so low.
If you follow the links back to the scorecards, all the bills considered in the ratings are available. We do plan to go back into these scores in more detail, though. Thanks for reading!
Sue Scott,
As much as I respect your other work, I rate this Scorecard an F- because of blatant attacks against Republican conservatives with whom you disagree. I do not criticize the members or other activities of the Liberty Caucus! I specifically criticize this Score Card—because you categorically criticize the votes and judgement of the conservative Republicans by saying they “Received F’s for Voting Against Liberty.” In short: you violated the reporting process used in 2019.
1. Your scoring opposes many conservative bills including tax reforms, medical health and safety regulations, educational choice, energy regulation, rural Colorado, and necessary changes. Conservative Republicans have sponsored and voted for these bills. You only say that your group opposes them “in the name of Liberty”.
2. You rate ALL elected Republicans below “B”. Surely some of them are true conservatives. I am not talking about a curve here. I am talking about a scorecard that does not recognize active Republican conservatives who represent their constituents with good bills. It simply F’s the Republicans.
I worked for many conservatives on their campaigns. I trust them and their judgement, not your “score”, as to what is a good legislation. It is obvious that your “staff”— except for the excellent Senator Tim Neville —does not include legislative experience over the last 4 years.
I will stand up for these legislators because I know they worked long and hard to get needed legislation into a radical left state government run by Polis-o-crats. If you value your credibility — you must endorse these and other true conservatives instead of trashing them all for the Caucuses.
Sen. Ray Scott,
Sen. Chris Holbert,
Senator Rob Woodward,
Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg,
Sen. Jack Tate,
Rep. Patrick Neville
Rep. Matt Soper,
Rep. Janet Rich
Rep. Rod Bockenfeld,
Rep. Susan Beckmann
Here are summaries of at least 30 bills that you opposed, supported by one or more of the above and me. I used the same bill summaries you used; you blindly apply “no government” and “no regulation” to oppose good bills:
Tax reduction bills:
o Deduction for contribution to eligible scholarship grant.
o Tax expenditure bill requirements: disclosures, metrics, and sunset requirements
o Legislative oversight committee concerning tax policy
o Regulating private activity bond allocation
o Sales and use tax simplification
o Fix defects in Enterprise zone statute, Income tax statute, and “state agency” for the Statewide Internet Portal Authority.
o Property tax exemption increases
Rural Colorado and Western Slope
o Landowner wildfire mitigation
o Broadband grant for unserved areas
o Rural economic development grant
o State parks improvement
Energy and Regulation:
o Consumer protections for utility customers (specifically, tiered-rate exemptions, service disconnections, and customer opt-in before employing a nonstandard rate.)
o Property valuation of clean energy storage and resources, similar to that for facilities used to generate and deliver electricity.
o Allow conservation districts to allow transmission line right-of-way for renewable energy providers
o Require website posting of rule-making notifications.
Medical, Health and Safety bills:
o Insurance carriers to reimburse costs for out-of-network providers.,
o Allow Medicaid buy-in for certain workers over age 65
o License genetic counselers
o Allow drug sales to additional pharmaceutical outlets
o Licensing of mental health professionals
o Limit mobile electronics while driving.
o School safety account
o Protection from sexual assault by educators
o Smart school bus safety pilot program
Education bills
o Open enrollment in school districts and programs
o Counting ASCENT graduates in graduation rate
o Increasing concurrent enrollment in post-secondary education.
o Educators can choose to administer certain student assessments.
Miscellaneous
o Elimination of duplicate regulation of school building
o Land Use zoning and municipal disconnection due process.
o Restrict “gay panic” defense by creating protective hearing if a party claims that such evidence is relevant.
o County reimbursement for leasing election equipment.
o Challenge federal antitrust and mergers
IMHO your Scorecard divides and weakens Republicans instead of uniting them. It uses your own “purity test” to discredit elected conservative Republicans. It generates the headlines of a “Libertarian wing-nut”. If you don’t like this, then FIX your unfair scoring instead of maligning my representatives and senators:
• RESCORE them based on the principles we support (per your 2019 report) instead of the ones you oppose.
• ENDORSE conservative Republicans that are running for office (per your 2019 report), instead of failing them all.
• SHOW a graph the Democrat-Republican split, which should be the whole point of the Score Card. Eschew obfuscation with your ‘failing’ headlines.
Principles of the Republican Party are on my business cards, and include:
• Individual rights, liberties and responsibilities
• Limited and Constitutional government: (including protecting public health and safety, improving education, and fixing many constitutional violations.)
• Fiscal Responsibility (including lower taxes and regulations).
• Free Enterprise (not government projects)
• Strong Defense (including Border Security and elimination of “sanctuary zones” that shield criminals https://cis.org/Map-Sanctuary-Cities-Counties-and-States ).
Signed,
Jim Hargis
2020 Mesa County District Captain, Precincts 55,56,57
2018 Arapahoe County Area Lead for 4 Precincts.