Ethics leader

Tanzi ranks high on Common Cause scorecard

STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett) scored the second-highest mark in the General Assembly on the 2014 Common Cause Legislative Scorecard, released this week.

Representative Tanzi, who is serving her second term in the House of Representatives, received a final score of 77 percent on the grassroots organization’s 11^th biennial tally. The score is based on a two-year voting record of legislators on a number of government reform issues valued by Common Cause.

Common Cause tracked 25 House of Representatives votes during the 2013 and 2014 sessions on legislation concerning voting rights, campaign finance reform, elections, ethics, judicial selection, open government, legislative rules and separation of powers. Representative Tanzi was the sponsor of one of the bills the organization supported and included, a 2013 measure (2013-H 6066 B) signed into law to increase accountability and transparency in tax credit programs and state agency reports.

The final score for each legislator is arrived at through a formula that weighs the importance to Common Cause of each of the particular bills in question, the number of times he or she voted with and against Common Cause’s position on them, and the number of times the legislator did not vote at all on one of the bills.

Representative Tanzi received 100-percent marks in the categories of ethics and campaigns/elections.

“During my time as the vice chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, we put a great deal of effort into developing improvements to state ethics and transparency laws. I value trustworthy, open government. I’m proud that my tax expenditure accountability bill was among the bills Common Cause used as a measure on its scorecard, and I firmly stand alongside Common Cause on many issues. Increasing transparency and public access to information is important to me, because it leads to government that is fairer and more effective,” said Representative Tanzi.