Rep. Joe Walsh of Illinois has certainly caused a stir in his home state by winning NTU’s “Taxpayers’ Friend” award – something rather alien to fiscally-challenged Illinois media and politicians.
In one instance, Edward McClelland with NBC 5-Chicago weighed in on his “Ward Room” blog, and was more than a little loose with some statements about NTU. Beyond correcting those impressions, it is worth examining some history of the Rating.
McClelland states: “The NTU insists it’s a non-partisan organization…” and “Suspiciously, though, only Republicans received ‘A’ grades from the NTU, while all the “F” grades went to Democrats.” Another statement was not quite ‘family friendly’.
As Government Bytes readers certainly know, NTU is an organization with a non-partisan mission best summarized as “Lower Taxes, Less Spending, Limited Government.” Being non-partisan does not mean handing out equal accolades to members of various parties just so everyone has a trophy regardless of their performance. In this context it means independence from political parties. Just one clear difference between the “mainstream” Republican platform and NTU would be attitudes on defense expenditures. NTU maintains the same standards for all forms of government programs: no matter where in the budget the money is spent, it should be spent wisely and frugally.
Aside from setting the record straight, there is an opportunity here to highlight past Democratic Party achievements in fiscal conservatism and on NTU’s Rating.
The late Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin (who served with NTU’s Board of Directors after he left Congress) was a prominent Democrat and multiple-time “Taxpayers’ Friend.” Proxmire, creator of the “Golden Fleece” award, felt that all taxpayers deserved to have their money spent responsibly. In theory, it would make more sense for a believer in government action to fight for responsible fiscal stewardship and not protect waste.
Other Democrats who’ve scored quite well include Sen. Kent Conrad, 43% (83rd percentile) in 1991 when the Republican average in the Senate was 40%, or Max Baucus of Montana who in 1990 scored a 46% (88th percentile). Interestingly, in those years the party averages were only separated by about 10 points. 1989 Senate Democrat leadership was a mere three points behind the GOP leadership.
NTU has also worked across the aisle in recent years. Senator Wyden of Oregon and NTU have worked together on tax reform and wireless tax issues. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had NTU's ardent support for Congressional compensation legislation. Also, NTU has prominently worked with U.S. PIRG to publish consecutive "Common Ground" reports proposing bi-partisan spending and program reform.
Simply put: The NTU standard has not changed, but over time the partisan divisions in Washington have. The nation’s taxpayers would certainly welcome more modern-day versions of Senator Proxmire, or more supply-siders like John F. Kennedy, in today’s Democratic Party.