The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) called Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick as a “Taxpayer Hero” for his efforts in 2009 to cut wasteful spending and reduce taxpayers’ burden.  Minnick is the highest ranked Democrat in Congress cited by CCAGW.

“Minnick is the first Democratic Taxpayer Hero since 2006 and deserves special recognition for this achievement,” CCAGW president Tom Schatz said in a news release.  “His vote rating shows that is it not impossible for Democrats to vote to cut wasteful spending, reduce the tax burden, and make government more accountable to taxpayers.”

Minnick rated behind Idaho Republican Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, who both scored above 90 percent in CAGW’s analysis of votes in Congress.  Minnick’s 83 percent was higher than Rep. Mike Simpson’s 34 percent for last year.  Simpson’s score was above the House average of 31 percent.

"We're obviously very pleased by the continued recognition of Walt's effective approach for Idaho, and of his opposition to runaway government spending, bailouts and earmarks," said John Foster, Minnick’s campaign manager.

CCAGW compiled its rankings based on assigning a positive or negative rating to 120 votes in the House of Representatives and 74 votes in the Senate.  While Idaho had three Taxpayer Heroes, scoring above 80 percent, Wyoming’s three members of Congress all rated as Taxpayer Superheroes, for agreeing with CCAGW’s stance against government waste and tax increases 100 percent of the time.

Read the full report at CCAGW’s website.