U.S. House of Representatives minority leader John Boehner (R-West Chester) received the 2007 Taxpayers' Friend Award from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for voting with the union on 87 percent of tax-related bills.
NTU is the nation's oldest and largest taxpayers group with more than 350,000 members. According to Kristina Rasmussen, director of government affairs for NTU, every year the union ranks members of Congress on how consistent they voted with the position of taxpayers.
Lower taxes, less regulation, lower spending and free trade are the main goals of bills that correspond with the aims of the union, according to Rasmussen.
In 2007, there were 427 votes involving taxes in the House of Representatives and almost 200 in the Senate. NTU only assigned scores to Congress members who voted on at least 50 percent of these tax bills.
"It's really a useful tool," Rasmussen said. "It doesn't just take 10 key votes, we take every single vote. It is extremely comprehensive."
In 2006, Boehner only received a B-, voting with NTU 59 percent of the time. In 2007 he received an A with 87 percent agreement, ranking him 24th in the House.
"We are thrilled that Boehner decided to vote more often with taxpayers than with Congress," Rasmussen said.
Miami University professor of political science Chris Kelley said the Republicans losing the House majority could have influenced his jump in the rankings.
"In 2006, when (Boehner) was in the majority, he could access the money a lot easier than he can now," Kelley said. "(Boehner) has always been fairly stringent on earmark spending, but he continued to support the spending of the Republican Congress up until (the party) lost (the majority) in 2006."
Boehner's press secretary, Jessica Towhey, said Ohio residents work too hard to have their money go to projects that get wasted on pork-barrel projects.
"Ohio taxpayers send too many of their hard earned dollars to Washington to see them wasted on pork-barrel projects and bureaucratic nonsense," Towhey said via e-mail. "With higher prices at the pump, the supermarket and elsewhere, the last thing middle-class families need is to pay higher taxes for more wasteful Washington spending."
Rasmussen said this grading system allows voters to see how their representative is voting on fiscal policy.
"Most voters don't have time to page through hundreds of pages of roll call," Rasmussen said. "This is an easy way for taxpayers who agree with low taxes, to get a good snapshot on how their member voted on fiscal issues."
Miami political science professor Bryan Marshall said the NTU rating may be used within the Washington, D.C. inner-circle to earn a politician credit with conservatives.
"In terms of his conservative credentials with the rest of his Republican members, I think it's an important distinction," Marshall said. "I think Boehner has a reputation of a fiscal conservative. This is certainly going to polish that distinction a little bit."
Kelley said the NTU and Republicans also use this public information to point out the pork spending by other congressional members.
"This is part of the Republican's attempt in 2008 to take back control of the Congress," Kelley said. "The Republicans inside Congress will work with allies outside Congress in order to affect those few vulnerable races that could tip the balance of power."
