Election Time In Mississippi

I want to talk about my district, the 4th Congressional district and my Representative, Gene Taylor, who is up for re-election. These are his ratings from various organizations.

Abortion:

• Rated 0% by NARAL, indicating a pro-life voting record.
• Rated 100% by the NRLC, indicating a pro-life stance

Civil Rights:

• Rated 20% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record.
• Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti-gay-rights stance.
• Rated 56% by NAACP, indicating a mixed record on affirmative-action.

On Corporations:

Rated 47% by the US COC, indicating a mixed business voting record.

Crime:

• Rated 10% by CURE, indicating anti-rehabilitation crime votes. (Dec 2000)
• Rated 88% by the NCJA, indicating a "tough-on-crime" stance.

Drugs:

Rated -20 by NORML, indicating a "hard-on-drugs" stance.

Education:

• Supports requiring schools to allow prayer.
• Rated 50% by the NEA, indicating a mixed record on public education.
• Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer.

Energy:

• Balance fossil fuels and viable renewable energy.
• Rated 83% by the CAF, indicating support for energy independence.
  

Environment:

Rated 50% by the LCV, indicating a mixed record on environment.

Family:

Rated 76% by the Christian Coalition: a pro-family voting record

Free Trade:

Rated 28% by CATO, indicating a pro-fair trade voting record.

Gun Control:

Rated A by the NRA, indicating a pro-gun rights voting record.

Health care:

ated 44% by APHA, indicating a mixed record on public health issues.

Homeland Security:

Rated 44% by SANE, indicating a mixed record on military issues.

Immigration:

• Rated 0% by FAIR, indicating a voting record loosening immigration. (Dec 2003)
• Rated 92% by USBC, indicating a sealed-border stance.

Jobs:

Rated 87% by the AFL-CIO, indicating a pro-union voting record.

Social Security:

Rated 90% by the ARA, indicating a pro-senior voting record.

Tax Reform:

• Rated 40% by NTU, indicating a "Big Spender" on tax votes.
• Rated 100% by the CTJ, indicating support of progressive taxation.

Here are some of the stands that Taylor has jumped on in the past and his rating. This is the type of flyer that should be sent out to all voters so that they can be well informed on what their rep is doing or nor doing.

US Rep. Gene Taylor

Since this is a blog where I post on the state of Mississippi and its political atmosphere. Since the US Congress is not doing much right now I want to review rep. Gene Taylor's recent record. Why Gene, well he is my rep in Congress and I want to share with my readers what I have learned about his voting. I picked issues that were important to me and I suggest that anyone wanting to grade their rep to do the same.

Health issues:

SCHIP--yes
Ban abortion pill--yes

Labor:

min. wage increase--yes
union bill--no
gay employment bill--no

War:
timeline for war--no

Economy:

economic stimulus--no
US-Peru trade agreement--no
Farm bill--yes
Alternate minimum tax--no

Other legislation:

FISA--yes
Xmas and Christianity bill--yes
Hate Crimes Act--no

There are the bills that were important to me....so how did Taylor do? By my standards, he is mediocre at best. By his vote he has little toleration for gays, or abortion rights. He does seem to stand well on labor, and has taken a stand against civil rights especially with the FISA bill. I will continue to monitor his voting record.

There are others in Washington, but he is the only one that I truly care about. OK we have a Senator Thad Cochran. I would review his record but why, he is boring, unimpressive and a follower and now he is the senior senator from Mississippi, will he he be more verbal now that he cannot hide behinf Lott? We will see.