A controversial Web site providing effectiveness ratings on members of the General Assembly is an independent resource that is not sponsored by members of the Buncombe County Republican Party, county GOP Chairman George Keller says.
Keller defended the Web site, sponsored by the N.C. Independent Public Policy Research Group, during an interview Sept. 12 on Asheville’s News Radio 570 WWNC. While admitting that he was the one responsible for uploading the content of the site, Keller denied being involved in the study itself.
“In this case, I worked as a paid Webmaster,” he said. “I was the cheapest Webmaster in town, and that’s why I was called. I was contacted as a private individual, not as the chair of the Buncombe County Republican Party. I thought the study contained interesting data, which should be available.”
The Web site is designed “to provide an expert evaluation of the legislators of the State of North Carolina through effectiveness ratings based upon data solicited and received from legislators themselves.” The Web site has raised the ire of Democrats for allegedly skewing the effectiveness ratings of state legislators to favor the Republican Party.
According to an Asheville Citizen-Times editorial, the site lowers the rankings of such Western North Carolina legislators as Rep. Bruce Goforth, D–Buncombe, and Rep. Susan Fisher, D–Buncombe, from the results of a candidate effectiveness survey by the N.C. Center For Public Policy Research.
The center’s survey is published biennially. The rankings “are based on surveys of all state legislators, registered lobbyists based in North Carolina, and the capital news media,” according to a news release by the organization. Seventy-seven percent of House members and 74 percent of Senate members responded to the survey.
Although the N.C. Independent Public Policy Research Group report contains no contact information and little data on methodology, the Web site makes clear that the survey was designed for legislators only and did not include lobbyists or media outlets.
“Although there are other effectiveness ratings in existence, the NCIPPRG seeks to both accurately remove the biases and ignorance of media input and to eliminate lobbyists’ directed efforts at influencing legislation through these ratings — both of which prove to be in the foundational structure of other rating systems,” the Web site says. “The data sources incorporated in this effectiveness rating comes strictly from the legislature and legislators themselves.”
On Sept. 7, Fisher, who is running against Mike Harrison in N.C. House District 114, issued a press release challenging the N.C. Independent Public Policy Research Group website. “[T]he organization seems not actually to exist and the website is actually the work of members of the Buncombe County Republican Party,” the press release stated. “The group’s name is strikingly similar to the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization which is well-known for publishing an annual report ranking legislators.”
Fisher also lashed out against her Republican opposition for advertising the Web site on the Citizen-Times reader forum chat room. “My opponent has been encouraging voters to look at this fraudulent information,” she said. “He and other Republican party activists have been attempting to confuse and mislead voters. This is dishonest and unethical.”
But Keller said that the county GOP had nothing to do with the Web site and that the content was reasonable. “All of the criteria for the study that I put on the Web was material — was information gathered, ratings gathered — by querying individuals, Senate and House colleagues,” he said.
Keller said he had “written down some take-aways” on the situation for future reference. “We are not going to come to this piece of pasture again,” he said.
NCIPPRG website
NCCPPR website
David N. Bass is an editorial intern of Carolina Journal.