A conservative group has launched a Legislative Scorecard with the goal of bringing greater transparency and citizen engagement to the lawmaking process.
The purported ‘report card,’ created by Freedom Principle MO, grades lawmakers based on how they vote on conservative legislative priorities, such as personal property tax reform and eliminating rank-choice voting.
“We've had communications with some of the legislators since we released the scorecard, and they've explained why they voted against a couple of the bills,” said Byron Keelin, president of the Freedom Principle MO, a Missouri-first 501(c)3. “We want this to be a way for voters to engage the legislators. It's not meant to say that they're against Freedom Principle or in lockstep with us.”
The scorecard tracks 25 votes on bills selected by the House of Representatives and 20 voted on by the Senate, which reflect Truly Agreed to and Passed (TAP) bills that were sent to the governor for signature, Perfected bills, and Amendments.
“What we want to tell these legislators is the budget is important, and if they don't like the budget, don't vote for it,” Keelin told the St. Louis Record. “Make the governor call a special session and redo the budget and start standing up for the fiscal responsibility aspect of things.”
During the 2023 legislative session, Freedom Principle monitored 110 bills in the Senate and 155 bills in the House of Representatives, testified on more than 50 bills, and issued more than 30 Legislative Action Alerts.
Among the issues that Freedom Principle is tracking is gender reassignment among children.
“House majority leader Jon Patterson voted against banning transgender mutilation of children and so did Chris Sander out of the Kansas City area,” Keelin added. “Jon Patterson, who is in a leadership position, not standing up for children on this and instead basically bowing down to the medical industrial cartel, sends a powerful message to the grassroots that he's not somebody who is going to fight for conservative issues.”
Sander (R) is a state representative for Jackson County while Patterson (R) represents parts of Lee's Summit and serves as Majority Floor Leader.
Favorites of Freedom Principle include Rep. Ben Baker (R-Newton), Rep. Brian Seitz (R-Taney), Rep. Doug Ritchey (R-Clay), Rep. Justin Sparks (R-St. Louis), and Rep. Holly Jones (R-St. Louis).
“Next year, we're going to go back to them and let them know the issues we're advocating for and scoring and hopefully they will help us get them across the finish line,” Keelin said.
The votes for each legislator were determined by a point system, which reflects a weighted system for the types of bills, according to a Freedom Principle press release.
Votes on the budget appropriations bills were given a lesser score because legislators are required by the state Constitution to vote on them.
"We view the budget as just as important as the other key pieces of legislation that they're voting for," Keelin added.