Ryan Honored As "Representative Zero"

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Southern Wisconsinites can take heart knowing that a congressional district in the United States has received less representation in the House then our own 1st congressional district has here. Jeffrey Flake, a Republican from Arizona got a perfect 100 score from the group Concerned Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) which earned him a taxpayer superhero label. Which means (using their criteria) Flake has not brought a dime home to his constituents in any way shape or form, supports handing over public assets like ANWR and the Internet over to the profiteers of corporate interests while simultaneously voting the party line supporting one of the most belligerent and fiscally irresponsible tax policies of modern times. The CCAGW has consistently leveled more favorable scores to Republicans during a period of the worst Republican-led pork spending, misplaced tax cuts and annual deficits our nation has ever seen. Our representative Paul Ryan, a party rubber stamp, is among their heroes.

CCAGW Excerpt:
CCAGW also broke down ratings based on party affiliation and membership in the two fiscally conservative groups, the Republican Study Committee and the Blue Dog Democrats. The average scores were: House Republicans - 46 percent, down 27 percentage points from their 73 percent score in 2005; House Democrats - 9 percent, down 4 percentage points from their 13 percent score in 2005; House Republican Study Committee - 56 percent, 23 percentage points down from their 79 percent score in 2005; and House Blue Dog Democrats - 20 percent, down 4 percentage points from 24 percent score in 2005.

Giving Republicans a 73% score for saving taxpayers money at the height of the Republican-led fiscal mismanagement in 2005 is ludicrous.

Consider this. The CCAGW looks favorably on politicians who supported oil drilling in ANWR and positions against net neutrality. Both issues are based more on handing over valuable public property and assets to corporate interests than on the idea of protecting the tax payer.

And instituting a legislative line-item veto? Hardly. What they call a legislative line-item veto is actually a misnomer. This legislation was co-authored by Ryan which in effect allows the president to cherry-pick earmarks from bills thereby opening up a Pandora's’s box of political posturing, pandering and blackmail. More properly, it is a presidential line-item veto of legislative bills – not a legislative veto. Implying that the veto action is initiated in the legislature is wrong and misleading.

Excerpt:
The 24 projects, totaling $2.4 billion, in this year’s Congressional Pig Book Summary symbolize the most egregious and blatant examples of pork.

$2.4 billion is a lot of money but also consider that the Iraq War stands at $448 billion and counting and equals 186 years of pork that this organization has identified as the worst cases. But they feel justified giving Republicans in general and Ryan specifically trophies for voting for this war of choice while placing democrats who voted against the Iraq War at the bottom of their imaginary ladder. If their priorities aren't mixed up, then they are intentionally promoting a platform that is hellbent on handing out trillions of dollars to the rich and corporations in tax givebacks - they are selling out America.

Supporting members of a party that has spent as wildly as the Republicans have under President Bush while handing out awards to the tax cutters is clear proof that the CCAGW is a sham right-wing operation hiding behind a seemingly grassroots title of “Taxpayer Watchdog."But I’m not here to argue that they gave Ryan an award. Groups like the CCAGW could give Ryan hundreds of awards everyday and I could care less. But handing an award with the name “Taxpayer Hero” based on partisan criteria, right-wing ideology and shortchanging the country's needs is not only just a misnomer – it is wrong. Ryan is not my hero and taxpayers should be outraged that awards such as these are given in their name.