99 of 99
A few Sundays ago, we ran an editorial in the Georgetown News Graphic to respond to an earlier article and editorial and explain why Charlie Hoffman ranked at the bottom of the state House. Here is the editorial:
Sorry Charlie, name-calling won’t change your votes
For the second year, the Kentucky Club for Growth has published our Legislative Scorecard -- our tool to help citizens find out about the policy decisions their legislators are making in Frankfort.
Georgetown has the interesting distinction this year of being represented by legislators at the top and bottom of our lists, which was noted in a story Tuesday in the Georgetown News-Graphic.
In the article, Senator Damon Thayer noted that after receiving a low ranking in 2007, he “rededicated [him]self to fiscal conservatism.” His dedication to the Kentucky taxpayer is reflected in his #2 ranking in 2008 and prompted Club President Brian Richmond to remark “I don’t know that fiscal conservatives had a better champion in the Senate than Senator Thayer.”
Representative Hoffman however, who ranked 99th out of 99 members of the House, lashed out:
“The interest they have in growth is the growth in the wealthy’s bank accounts.”
“These people make Rush Limbaugh look like a liberal.”
“I don’t pay any attention to the rankings of fringe issue groups.”
Fringe issues? The Kentucky Club for Growth is a bipartisan, non-profit advocate for taxpayers. We advocate lower taxes and limited government.
Charlie Hoffman’s low ranking is based entirely on his actions in the 2008 General Assembly Regular Session. These include:
- Voting twice against legislation that says classified government employees can’t canvas for political ballot initiatives while at work (SB 64)
- Supporting $148 million in new taxes and tax increases to expand spending (HB 262)
- Spending those tax increases in the most indebted budget in state history (HB 406)
- Supporting a legislative budget that grows at over 5% per year, well above historic rates of inflation (HB 407)
- Creating extra penalties for employers who have already paid for classification mistakes made in a system that has different rules from worksite to worksite (HB 654)
- Sponsoring legislation that singles out mining for fill practices that are common in homebuilding, road construction and commercial development (HB 164)
- Supporting new mandates that make health insurance more expensive for everyone (HB 148)
- Supporting a new 2% tax on wages for new businesses in ‘development areas’ that in only some cases offset against other taxes (HB 611)
Representative Hoffman states: “I have always voted for an agenda to make a better economic landscape in the state of Kentucky for everyone’s benefit.”
We leave it to you to decide whether his actions square with his words, and encourage you to contact Representative Hoffman and let him know what a better economic landscape would look like.
To find out more about the scorecard and the Club, please visit our website at www.kyclubforgrowth.org.
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Andy Hightower is the Executive Director of the Kentucky Club for Growth, a bipartisan advocacy organization dedicated to economic freedom, limited government, lower taxes and less regulation.
