Have you been wondering if your representatives in Congress are really doing a good job of standing up for the 1 % — protecting the assets of billionaires? Americans for Prosperity has the info!
The right-wing group, heavily funded by petrochemical multi-billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has posted a scoreboard for the last complete session of Congress, 2009-2010, as well as for the previous session, 2007-2008, rating members of Congress on their stands on “the most important free market issues.” These include opposing environmental regulations, blocking health care reform, slashing taxes, and supporting cuts to, or elimination of, Social Security and Medicare.
So which Northeast Ohio representatives support this agenda? Not too many, unfortunately for the army of billionaire Scene readers out there.
Eleventh district congresswoman Marcia Fudge and 13th district congresswoman Betty Sutton both scored a big, fat zero, as did Senator Sherrod Brown, despite living in relatively wealthy Avon. Youngstown’s Tim Ryan also scored zero, while Dennis! Kucinich stood up for the agenda of the super-rich at least some of the time, with a score of 25 on a 0-100 scale. His primary opponent, Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, who could be representing some of western Cuyahoga County after next year, was less friendly to the AFP agenda, racking up only a 15.
Luckily, a sliver of southeastern Cuyahoga, represented by Lake County’s Steve LaTourette (he’ll represent even more of Cuyahoga next year, thanks to the new congressional map), has a true champion of wealth. LaTourette earned a score of 85. — Anastasia Pantsios
