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U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts
By Travis Perry │ Kansas Watchdog
OSAWATOMIE — Kansas‘ congressional delegates have missed the mark when it comes to achieving an immaculate voting record, with Republican U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran leading the way.
But three U.S. representatives missed less than 1 percent of the roll-call votes during their congressional careers, according to GovTrack.us, a nonpartisan group that tracks the voting records of lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures.
Since January 1981, Roberts has missed 401 of 13,221, or about 3 percent. The national median for missed votes is 2.4 percent.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran
Sarah Little, Roberts’ communication director, said the senator only missed votes for medical reasons, travel difficulties or family emergencies. Little said she has worked for the senator since 1999 and was surprised to hear the total number of votes Roberts had missed.
“I think in my memory there’s probably only a handful that he has missed, and I know the recent votes he has missed were because he had surgery or was sick and wasn’t able to come in and vote,” Little said.
“They’re really far and few between.”
Roberts also has missed a higher number of votes in the second quarter of the past four years. Little said the absences were due to either illness or surgery.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins
Moran posted a similar record, and has missed 271 of 9,787 votes, or about 2.8 percent, since January 1997. A chunk of that figure came in 2010, when Moran, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, missed 123 votes while campaigning for his current position in the U.S. Senate.
Garrette Silverman, Moran’s communication director, did not return calls for comment Friday.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-District 2, had a perfect voting record until the fourth quarter of 2011 after a family health emergency called her home, said Annie Dwyer, Jenkins’ spokeswoman. The representative has since missed 17 votes.
Earlier this year, Jenkins took a stand against the inconsistent attendance records of her fellow legislators by co-sponsoring the “No Show, No Pay” Act, which would dock a member’s pay for missing a vote. The bill was referred to the House Committee on House Administration in July.
U.S. Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-District 4, has missed six of 1,503 votes, or 0.4 percent, since January 2011. During the same time span and vote total, U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, R-District 3, has missed five votes, or 0.3 percent, andU.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-District 1, missed four, or 0.26 percent.
All of Kansas’ seats in the House are up for re-election this year.
Contact Travis Perry at travis@kansaswatchdog.org, or follow him on twitter at @kansaswatchdog.
