Tommy Merritt an “A+” Conservative? False!

April 23, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 23, 2014

Contact: Jenna White, Executive Director
Mobile: (281) 460-8545
Email: [email protected]

AUSTIN, TX —

Yesterday, Former Rep. Tommy Merritt attempted to improve his liberal voting record by creating his own “scorecard.” He is attempting to dupe conservative voters by rolling out TexasConservativeScorecard.com, a website solely dedicated to making Merritt look more conservative than he is in reality. On the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) scorecard, dedicated to a true picture of legislative conservatism, Merritt’s lifetime score is 56%.

The new “scorecard” site claims to rate several bills in a few different categories to “dig past the political speeches and TV ads to look at the candidates’ voting records and identify those who truly share our values – no RINOs and no liberals looking to masquerade as real Texas conservatives.”1

In the “Pro-Life & Pro-Family” section, only a couple of the bills “rated” actually came up for a vote, the rest were just co-authored by Merritt but had no movement. It is also worth noting that six of the bills were different versions of the parental consent for abortion bill and four were different versions of the same bill to prohibit same-sex civil unions. His opponent, Sid Miller, was also a co-author on almost every bill “rated,” yet on the scorecard Merritt was given an ‘A+’, while Miller was conveniently not rated on the same issues.

In the “secure our border and stop illegal immigration” section, only one bill was considered, HB 4036, which never came up for a vote. However, according to the ‘scorecard’, Tommy Merritt was rated an ‘A+’ on the issue while Sid Miller was once again not rated on it.

In the “stand against higher taxes and higher spending” section, it was more of the same thing from the above, mostly bills that never came up for a vote. Once again, the ‘scorecard’ rates Merritt an ‘A+’ and the issue was not rated for Miller.

The “Second Amendment” section was the most humorous, as the ‘scorecard’ rated the Texas concealed handgun license (CHL) bill, which was passed the Session before Merritt was even elected!  Yet miraculously, Merritt once again receives an ‘A+’ while Miller is not rated on the issue.

This deception is unethical—down to the disclosure. In almost unreadable white-colored font at the bottom of the page, the site contains: “PD. POL. ADV BY TOMMY MERRITT CAMPAIGN, JANET MERRITT, TREASURER.”

merritt_disclosure

Tommy Merritt has a career score of 56% on YCT’s conservative scorecard. Additionally, he scored a 63% (2009) and a 38% (2007) with Empower Texans and was rated the most liberal Republican in the Texas House according to an ideology study put on by Mark Jones at Rice University.2

Texans will not be deceived by Merritt’s obvious deception. Two elections in a row, the people of Texas have denied Merritt entry back into the political sphere and they will do so again on May 27th. Young Conservatives of Texas enthusiastically endorses true conservative Sid Miller for Texas Agriculture Commissioner. Sid has a record he can run on, unlike his opponent that has to make one up!

Young Conservatives of Texas is a non-partisan organization that has promoted conservatism at universities across the Lone Star State for over three decades. The State’s most active political youth organization, YCT is composed of hundreds of members and alumni who participate in the full spectrum of politics. YCT issues the most respected ratings of the Texas legislature and is the only conservative group to have done so without interruption over the past 20 legislative sessions. For more information about YCT, please visit www.yct.org

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