A former candidate for Secretary of State has released this year’s Legislative Rating Report grading lawmakers on how they vote on conservative issues.
The Top’s Views weighted priority list of issues includes strengthening state’s rights, supporting a Convention of States, eliminating ESG metrics and nullifying Central Bank Digital Currency.
“Many scorecards exist but are focused on a single subject or industry,” said Barry Holstein, a 2016 Republican candidate for Secretary of State. “This scorecard spans all the issues that conservatives care about. I hope the scorecard starts a dialog between legislator and constituent that will move the West Virginia legislature toward a more conservative position.”
Holstein
| Courtesy photo
Top’s Views aims to be a stand-alone comprehensive tool that conservative voters can use to evaluate their elected representatives on the topics that matter most to them, such as banning gender transition procedures for minors, increasing medical freedom, improving election security and promoting school choice, and eliminating personal income tax.
“It’s a measure of how closely aligned each legislator is to broad conservative priorities,” Holstein told the West Virginia Record. “Each bill that reaches a floor vote and fits within the key conservative subjects, such as abortion, education, and 2nd Amendment, is recorded and added to the scorecard.”
The top three performing conservative legislators include Delegate Elias Coop-Gonzalez (R-Randolph County), state Sen. Robert Karnes (R-Randolph), and Delegate Todd Longanacre (R-Greenbrier).
“The most surprising thing about the scorecard’s results is how low some of the Republican legislator scores are,” Holstein said. “Republicans claim to be the party of conservatism, but it seems some Republican legislators didn’t get the memo.”
Not surprisingly, the three lowest performing lawmakers on the scorecard are Democratic Delegates Kayla Young (D-Charleston), Larry Rowe (D-Malden) and Shawn Fluharty (D-Ohio).
“West Virginia voters are not single-issue voters and therefore, a single-issue scorecard is no longer sufficient to provide the voter with what they need,” Holstein said.
Independently developed and produced, Top’s Views scorecard has no direct association other than a shared mission to advance conservative values and legislation and to hold legislators accountable,
However, Holstein said he is pleased the West Virginia Freedom Caucus was established in the Legislature this month.
“This is a significant move to show a coordinated effort to move the legislature toward a more conservative position,” he said. “Members of the Freedom Caucus can be expected to score high on the scorecard.”
Delegate Geoff Foster (R-Putnam) is set to chair while state Sen. Patricia Rucker (R-Berkeley) is vice chair.
Other Caucus leaders are Delegates Bill Ridenour (R-Jefferson) and Geno Chiarelli (R-Monongalia).
“Without going line by line, it is expected that the WVFC priorities will show considerable alignment with the Top’s Views scorecard,” Holstein added. “West Virginia has moved to a Republican supermajority, and many elections will be decided in the primary. Therefore, separating conservatives from non-conservatives has never been more critical.”
