Rating Group: National Taxpayers Union
2009 Positions
How to Interpret these Evaluations
Vote Smart displays all known interest group ratings for each candidate and official, regardless of issue or bias.
Keep in mind that ratings done by special interest groups often do not represent a non-partisan stance. In addition, some groups select votes that tend to favor members of one political party over another, rather than choosing votes based solely on issue concerns. Nevertheless, they can be invaluable in showing where an incumbent has stood on a series of votes in the past one or two years, especially when ratings by groups on all sides of an issue are compared. Website links, if available, and descriptions of the organizations offering performance evaluations are accessible by clicking on the name of the group.
With rare exceptions, Vote Smart displays interest group ratings as a 0-100 percentage. While many interest groups use percentages as ratings to begin with, please note that Vote Smart has translated some ratings to a percentage from a different rating system for consistency and ease in understanding. Please visit the group's website, email us at ratings@votesmart.org or call our Voter Information Hotline at 1-888-VOTESMART for more specific information.
| State | Office | Name | Party | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MN | Governor | Tim Walz | Democratic/Farmer/Labor | 6% |
| VT | U.S. Senate - Jr | Peter Welch | Democratic | 6% |
| Barbara Boxer | 5% | |||
| Roland Burris | 5% | |||
| Ben Cardin | 5% | |||
| John Conyers, Jr. | 5% | |||
| Chris Dodd | 5% | |||
| Bob Filner | 5% | |||
| Daniel Inouye | 5% | |||
| Jay Inslee | 5% | |||
| Frank Lautenberg | 5% | |||
| CA | U.S. House - 18 | Zoe Lofgren | Democratic | 5% |
| Jim McDermott | 5% | |||
| Kendrick Meek, Sr. | 5% | |||
| Bob Menendez | 5% | |||
| Barbara Mikulski | 5% | |||
| CT | U.S. Senate - Jr | Chris Murphy | Democratic | 5% |
| Jay Rockefeller IV | 5% | |||
| Dutch Ruppersberger | 5% | |||
| NY | U.S. Senate - Sr | Chuck Schumer | Democratic | 5% |
| Joe Sestak, Jr. | 5% | |||
| Carol Shea-Porter | 5% | |||
| John Tierney | 5% | |||
| Tom Udall | 5% | |||
| CA | U.S. House - 43 | Maxine Waters | Democratic | 5% |
| WI | U.S. Senate - Jr | Tammy Baldwin | Democratic | 4% |
| NV | Mayor | Shelley Berkley | Democratic | 4% |
| Jeff Bingaman | 4% | |||
| GA | U.S. House - 2 | Sanford Bishop, Jr. | Democratic | 4% |
| Leonard Boswell | 4% | |||
| Sherrod Brown | 4% | |||
| CT | U.S. House - 2 | Joe Courtney | Democratic | 4% |
| IL | U.S. Senate - Sr | Dick Durbin | Democratic | 4% |
| MN | Attorney General | Keith Ellison | Democratic/Farmer/Labor | 4% |
| Bob Etheridge | 4% | |||
| Tom Harkin | 4% | |||
| John Kerry | 4% | |||
| Carolyn Kilpatrick | 4% | |||
| Mary Jo Kilroy | 4% | |||
| Ron Klein | 4% | |||
| CA | Mayor | Barbara Lee | Democratic | 4% |
| NM | U.S. Senate - Jr | Ben Luján, Jr. | Democratic | 4% |
| Carolyn McCarthy | 4% | |||
| ME | U.S. House - 1 | Chellie Pingree | Democratic | 4% |
| RI | U.S. Senate - Sr | Jack Reed | Democratic | 4% |
| Loretta Sanchez | 4% | |||
| VA | U.S. House - 3 | Bobby Scott | Democratic | 4% |
| José Serrano | 4% | |||
| Vic Snyder | 4% | |||
| John Spratt, Jr. | 4% |