State Sen. Raymond Finney scorecard

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2007/06/25 - 9:48am.

Republican State Sen. Raymond Finney, who represents Blount Co. and portions of Sevier Co. in the Tennessee Senate, has a massive, two-page ad in today's Maryville Daily Times summarizing this year's session, with his comments on the various legislation passed.

Although I don't agree with Sen. Finney's politics on a wide range of issues, I have always given him credit where credit is due for his accessibility, open communication with constituents, and communications outreach (with a couple of exceptions). Although he generally does not represent my views, I'm the minority in Blount Co. so he effectively represents his mostly conservative constituency.

Here's the web edition of Sen. Finney's legislative update ad that ran in today's paper. It's as good a summary of the session as you will see anywhere, although not all the controversial issues are discussed.

Even though he ran as a firebrand conservative, Sen. Finney's positions on the issues mentioned reveal that he may be more moderate than he lets on. Or maybe that's the impression he wants to portray.

By my tally, based on his positions and my interpretation of the generally accepted party line on the issues, Sen. Finney scores a 12 on the Democrat/liberal scale and an 11 on the Republican/conservative scale (out of a possible 26). If you weight it based on the intensity of his feelings on a particular issue, it comes out only slightly more conservative.

Of course, wedge issues such as abortion and gay rights weren't in the spotlight during this session, probably because it isn't an election year. A more thorough review of all his votes would probably suggest a more conservative record. But at least he documents them.

(It's curious that he voted "yes" on every piece of legislation put before the Senate except the very few times he abstained, and that nearly every bill passed unanimously. I wonder if that has something to do with letting them change their votes to tidy up their records as long as it doesn't change the outcome?)

(UPDATE: ACK previously discussed the vote "do overs". Not sure this is such a great idea, for exactly the reasons he states.)

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Not so impressed
Submitted by Elrod on Mon, 2007/06/25 - 9:09pm.

I'm not so impressed by his legislative report, mostly because it strikes me as disingenuous. He talks at great length about the hardship suffered by poor people in Blount and Sevier County and uses that as a reason why they cannot bear any further burden of taxation. Well, sure, they can't bear any more taxation, but the wealthy around here sure can. He offered a compelling case for a progressive tax system, but then said he opposed an income tax. He cites a suffering person kicked off TennCare, but doesn't provide any other mechanism through which he could raise revenue to fund it. Which is it, Senator Finney? What is his answer to the problem of affordable health care?

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