At a debate sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Tuesday, former Mayor Mufi Hannemann said: “His overall cumulative score in his 20 years of Congress on issues important to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was 30 percent.”

Hannemann was referring to his Democratic rival, Neil Abercrombie.

With the Sept. 18 primary election only eight days away, both candidates are using all available ammunition to solicit voters to their camp.

But was Hannemann accurate when he said that Abercrombie received a total score of only 30 percent by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

Yes.

According to the Chamber’s “How They Voted 2009” section of their website, each House member is identified by a “Correct” vote, supporting the Chamber’s position, or a “Wrong” vote, against the Chamber’s position.

The Chamber defines its ranking system saying: “The Chamber ranks members of Congress for key business votes, set out in its annual publication, How They Voted. Votes included in the rankings are Chamber-designated “key votes”: recorded floor votes on issues established as priorities by the Chamber’s board of directors, on which the Chamber communicates its position prior to the vote.”

The Chamber says it “is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. More than 96 percent of U.S. Chamber members are small businesses with 100 employees or fewer.”

For 2009, the Chamber identified 15 votes it determined as “priorities” on which it judged House members.

Of these 15, Abercrombie scored a “Wrong” vote on 10, a “Correct” vote on four and a “No recorded” vote on one. This gave him a score for the year of 29 percent.

The Chamber also keeps track of the House’s cumulative score, which they define as, “Average annual percentage of correct votes cast by member on Chamber-selected issues since the Chamber began rating members in 1965, or since that member’s first year in Congress, through 2008.”

For Abercrombie’s cumulative vote, he was awarded a 30 percent, exactly as Hannemann described.

For comparison’s sake, Mazie Hirono, who represents Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District was also judged by the Chamber: she scored a 33 percent for 2009 and has a cumulative score of 45 percent. (Hirono was first elected in 2006.)

A screen shot of the Chamber’s scoring for Abercrombie and Hirono is below. The cumulative percentage is listed in the far-right column and the 2009 percentage is next to the cum, on the left. Plus signs denote a “Correct” vote, minus signs denote a “Wrong” vote and the question mark represents a “No recorded” vote.