79-12-B5
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1979
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Voting Records[edit]
Transcript[edit]There is an old saying that you can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit. Miller Nichols, President of J.C. Nichols Company of Kansas City, has been observing that truism in a project which promises to fill a great need in our political process. For too long now our elected representatives in Congress have enjoyed a freedom from close scrutiny that has enabled some to carry water on both shoulders. They can come home to their own district or their own state and make speeches to the appropriate forums, and they can get local press attention and voter approval of the views they express. No check, however, is made to determine whether their voting record is in line with their public declarations. Then there is the device of voting "yes" on an issue of immediate concern to their constituents (and which will get home town attention), while voting "no" on things not quite so obvious. The truth is there is great difficulty in keeping score on them. Miller Nichols has finally solved our dilemma. He has produced a small booklet which provides an instant checklist on senators and representatives. His booklet enables you to find out their total voting record more easily than you can look up a word in the dictionary. In this eight-page booklet are listed four recognized conservative organizations, plus a brief statement of their principals and four groups considered liberal. These groups annually rate members of Congress on the percentage of votes they cast for and against legislation favorable to the principles advocated by these various groups. All the 100 senators and 435 representatives are listed in alphabetical order along with the state and district they represent. Following that, their names appear grouped under their respective states with their year of re-election and their percentage rating by each of the eight organizations, plus their average conservative and liberal vote. For example, in my own state, Senator Cranston is shown as having voted less than seventeen percent conservative and over seventy percent liberal. The other California Senator, Dr. Hayakawa, is eighty-two percent conservative and twenty-five percent liberal. You can find instantly where any senator or congressman stands in relation to your own views on national affairs. Mr. Nichols has spent countless hours and many thousands of dollars in creating this booklet and sought no copyright. Anyone, any business organization, political action group or whatever, can buy copies or duplicate this and put it out under their own banner or commercial message. Miller Nichols' only interest is in seeing that his fellow citizens have the information they need to vote for those who support their viewpoint. Just write to Smith-Grieves Printing Company, P.O. Box 19573, Kansas City, Missouri 64141. You can buy as few as ten copies, or as many as you like. Or you can print your own. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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