CLUB FOR GROWTH ANNOUNCES WYOMING DEFENDER OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM AWARDS AND NEW MISSED VOTES SCORECARD

Joe Kildea  |   February 18, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Club for Growth today announced its Defender of Economic Freedom awards for Wyoming state legislators — 3 House members and 3 Senators — whose voting records distinguished them as champions of economic liberty for their high score on the new Club for Growth Foundation’s 2020 Wyoming State Economic Votes Scorecard. In addition, the Club for Growth Foundation released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for Wyoming, which sheds light on which state legislators are doing their jobs by voting and which ones are not.

The Club for Growth recognizes elected officials who, on the Foundation’s scorecard, score 90% or better in a given calendar year and maintain lifetime scores of 90% or better as Defenders of Economic Freedom. The following Wyoming state lawmakers won the award:

  • Sen. Bo Biteman (SD-21) – 100%
  • Rep. Mark Jennings (HD-30) – 95%
  • Sen. Lynn Hutchings (SD-05) – 92%
  • Sen. Tom James (SD-13) – 92%
  • Rep. Chuck Gray (HD-57) – 92%
  • Rep. Clarence Styvar (HD-12) – 90%

“Wyoming has a supermajority of Republicans in its state house and state senate, but only 6 lawmakers are true defenders of economic freedom. Members of the Wyoming Legislature can and should do better if they want to deliver economic growth and freedom to their citizens. In the Wyoming Senate, the average Republican score is 46% and the average Republican score in the Wyoming House of Representatives is only 56%. In essence, Republicans are voting for big government regulations and against freedom half the time,” said Club for Growth President David McIntosh.

“Additionally, many representatives missed key votes, which we were sure to document. It is ridiculous that members, who are elected by the people to take tough votes, all too often dodge these votes and still collect a paycheck. We believe that this scorecard will help inform citizens and entrepreneurs about who supports policies that help the economy. The people of Wyoming elected representatives they believed would fight for limited government, but the results of our scorecard show they have been let down.”

 

Key Takeaways on Wyoming’s 2020 Economic Scorecard:

 

Wyoming Senate

  • Average Republican Score: 46%
  • Average Democrat Score: 28%
  • Highest-Rated Republican: Sen. Bo Biteman (SD-21) – 100%
  • Highest-Rated Democrat: Sen. Liisa Anselmi-Dalton (SD-12) – 55%
  • Lowest-Rated Republicans:
    • Sen. James Anderson (SD-28) – 12%
    • Sen. R.J. Kost (SD-19) – 12%
    • Sen. Jeff Wasserburger (SD-23) – 12%
  • Lowest-Rated Democrat: Sen. Michael Gierau (SD-17) – 7%

 

Wyoming House

  • Average Republican Score: 56%
  • Average Democrat Score: 18%
  • Highest-Rated Republican: Rep. Mark Jennings (HD-30) – 95%
  • Highest-Rated Democrat: Rep. Michael Yin (HD-16) – 32%
  • Lowest-Rated Republican: Rep. Patrick Sweeney (HD-58) – 16%
  • Lowest-Rated Democrat: Rep. Sara Burlingame (HD-44) – 10%

 

Wyoming State Missed Votes Scorecard

The Club for Growth Foundation also released its new Missed Votes Scorecard for Wyoming’s 2020 legislative session.  This scorecard simply calculates how often lawmakers show up to vote and how often they miss votes.  For 2020, the results were:

Wyoming Senate

The average Wyoming senator missed 3% of the total 518 floor votes.  Senator Wyatt Agar (SD-20) missed the most votes – 168 votes out of 518 – for a score of 32%.  By not missing a single vote, the following senators received perfect attendance scores:

  • Sen. Larry Hicks (SD-11)
  • Sen. Drew Perkins (SD-29)
  • Sen. Wendy Schuler (SD-15)

Wyoming House

The average Wyoming house member missed 2% of the total 522 floor votes.  Rep. Mike Greear (HD-27) missed the most votes – 117 votes out of 522 – for a score of 22%.  By not missing a single vote, the following house members received perfect attendance scores:

  • Rep. Eric Barlow (HD-03)
  • Rep. JoAnn Dayton-Selman (HD-17)
  • Rep. John Eklund (HD-10)
  • Rep. Danny Eyre (HD-19)
  • Rep. Dan Furphy (HD-14)
  • Rep. Chuck Gray (HD-57)
  • Rep. Carl Loucks (HD-59)
  • Rep. Jerry Obermueller (HD-56)
  • Rep. Garry Piiparinen (HD-49)
  • Rep. Arthur Washut (HD-36)
  • Rep. Sue Wilson (HD-07)

 

NOTE:  The Club for Growth Foundation makes no judgment on why a lawmaker misses votes.  Lawmakers miss votes for a whole host of reasons, including medical issues, family concerns, or prior commitments.  The Foundation publishes this quantified information for educational purposes only.