Is there a difference between Parties?

Judging from the composite Conservative Liberal Index, it appears the answer is clearly - YES!!!

The Conservative - Liberal Index

"by their Fruits shall ye know them"

There are now several groups "rating" our Utah legislators. They each have different criteria for their ratings, based on votes that those groups consider favor or oppose "their" particular issues. The Conservative - Liberal Index (CLI) is a compiled aggregate of those various ratings to determine who is "truly" Conservative or "really" Liberal.

For simplicity, Conservatives may be defined as in favor of LIMITED Government and PROTECTION of INDIVIDUAL rights and Liberals as in favor of ACTIVIST Government and PROVISION of GROUP rights. There may indeed be "a dime's work of difference" between the parties - well, maybe a nickel's.

Individually, ALL Republicans achieved a CLI higher than ALL Democrats. The Most Conservative Award goes to Rep. Morley at 88.4; the Most Liberal Award to Sen. Arent at 17.0.

All told, we might count 47 Conservatives (above 60), 27 Liberals (below 40) and 30 Mugwumps. Some might declare that a balanced, moderate group, others might yearn for stronger principles.

Please refer to the individual websites for bills considered and further rating considerations which were used.

	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	GAY	UTA	V4M	UAR	AccUT	CLI
	Life	2005	2005	2005	2005	2003	2003	life 04
HOUSE
REPUBLICAN	65	69	49	3	78	39	67	-7	65
DEMOCRAT	23	22	95	59	45	56	56	-45	26
SENATE
REPUBLICAN	55	61	40	22	90	45	88	-38	62
DEMOCRAT	20	20	79	73	41	59	55	-45	26

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2005 Utah Legislative Ratings

Rating groups used in this report were:

GrsRts = GrassRoots www.utahgrassroots.com claims: "Grass Roots is committed to the Principles of Limited Government, the State and U.S. Constitutions, Representative Government, Participatory Democracy, a Free Market Economy, Separation of Powers, and Family."

UEA = Utah Education Association www.utea.org declares their "mission is to advance the cause of public education by promoting quality teaching and learning and advocating effectively for the rights and interests of its members."

Gay = Gay Rights www.actwin.com/eatonohio/gay grades on the basis of hate crimes, same-sex marriage and "gay rights."

UTA = Utah Taxpayers Association www.utahtaxpayers.org deals mainly with tax issues and "is a non-profit, non-partisan association working for greater efficiency and effectiveness in government."

V4Mod = Voice for Moderation www.voiceformoderation.com "We promote and support the election of mainstream Republican candidates and attempt to influence legislation that is in keeping with the goals and values of the majority of the people of Utah."

UAR = Utah Association of Realtors www.utahrealtors.com reports on issues dealing with real estate on property issues.

AccUT = Accountability Utah www.accountabilityutah.com "promotes government that is restrained, fair, open, and representative; an economy based on free market principles; and strong individuals and families."

CLI = Conservative - Liberal Index: A weighted average of the above groups.

2005 Utah Senate Vote Ratings

				GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	Gay	UTA	V4Mod	UAR	AccUT	CLI
	Senator	Dist	Party	Life	2005	2005	2005	2005	2003	2004	life2004
REPUBLICANS
75	Stephenson	11	R	74	67	20	0	100	40	84	-4	75.3
	Peterson *	24	R	76	80	44	0	89	50	100	-3	73.3
	Hickman	29	R	59	71	0	10	60	40	100	-39	72.6
70	Jenkins	20	R	71	75	44	10	89	53	100	-14	69.7
	Madsen *	13	R	70	70	30	0	89	?	?	?	69.3
	Hatch	28	R	66	72	50	0	88	40	100	-29	67.6
65	Bramble	16	R	61	72	44	10	100	47	100	-50	66.4
	Valentine	14	R	56	61	44	10	100	40	100	-39	63.7
	Killpack	21	R	52	60	38	10	89	47	84	-43	61.2
	Buttars	10	R	55	56	44	10	100	47	100	-61	61.2
	Mansell	9	R	47	67	29	40	86	53	100	-57	61.1
60	Hellewell	15	R	60	63	56	10	100	60	100	-54	60.9
	Waddoups	6	R	58	59	50	40	88	33	100	-39	60.3
	Eastman	23	R	47	63	40	40	88	53	100	-50	58.5
	Hillyard	25	R	44	47	33	40	78	33	100	-46	56.7
	Christensen *	19	R	58	58	56	40	100	?	?	?	56.5
55	Thomas	18	R	48	50	45	0	89	67	84	-43	56.1
	Bell	22	R	39	50	33	40	75	53	100	-54	54.1
	Walker	8	R	46	63	56	70	100	53	100	-57	53.6
50	Evans, B	26	R	39	22	43	10	100	73	88	-50	48.2
	Knudsen	17	R	37	47	44	70	78	67	100	-61	47.8
	average			55.4	60.6	40.1	21.9	89.8	45.2	87.6	-37.8	61.6
DEMOCRATS
	Dmitrich	27	D	24	30	75	80	67	73	100	-57	33.1
	Mayne	5	D	29	28	67	80	44	73	71	-46	32.5
30	Allen, R	12	D	19	25	56	80	63	80	63	-57	31.4
	Fife *	1	D	21	20	78	80	56	?	?	?	29.1
	McCoy *	2	D	11	11	78	0	22	?	?	?	27.7
25	Davis	3	D	21	15	75	80	13	73	80	-68	24.0
	Hale	7	D	18	15	100	80	33	93	63	-64	17.2
15	Arent	4	D	20	15	100	100	33	80	63	-71	17.0
	average			20.4	19.9	78.6	72.5	41.4	59.0	55.0	-45.4	28.0

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2005 Utah House Vote Ratings

SCALE	REPUBLICANS	DIST	Party	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	GAY	UTA	V4Mod	UAR	AccUT	CLI
	Representative			Life	2005	2005	2005	2005	2003	2003	life2004	ave
	Morley	66	R	94	100	31	0	91	36	78	75	88.4
85	Frank	57	R	95	95	31	0	91	36	78	29	84.6
	Dayton	61	R	83	95	29	0	90	36	100	35	83.4
	Lockhart	64	R	86	95	33	0	90	43	100	37	83.0
80	Hughes	51	R	81	85	38	0	100	43	100	34	79.3
	Ferrin	58	R	79	84	31	10	100	57	100	3	77.3
	Oda *	14	R	95	95	46	0	82	?	?	?	77.3
	Alexander	62	R	80	86	36	0	90	57	100	-4	76.7
	Tilton *	65	R	86	86	31	0	91	?	?	?	76.7
	Donnelson	7	R	83	90	46	0	91	43	78	19	76.6
	Daw *	60	R	90	90	38	0	82	?	?	?	76.5
75	Newbold	50	R	74	76	31	0	90	50	100	-3	74.6
	Dougall	27	R	79	79	36	0	100	71	78	-4	73.3
	Ure	53	R	76	79	38	0	91	71	100	3	73.2
	Wheeler *	68	R	85	85	46	0	91	?	?	?	73.2
	Wyatt *	5	R	78	78	33	0	100	?	?	?	73.1
	Kiser	41	R	70	80	33	0	91	50	78	1	72.7
	Urquhart	75	R	69	70	23	0	80	57	100	-22	71.9
	Painter *	67	R	80	80	38	0	82	?	?	?	71.9
70	Harper	43	R	68	79	38	0	73	43	78	8	70.5
	Christensen	48	R	73	85	50	0	82	57	78	8	70.3
	Walker *?	45	R	71	71	31	10	91	?	?	?	69.0
	Adams	16	R	62	78	42	0	90	57	100	-25	68.4
	Buttars	3	R	66	81	45	10	90	64	100	-26	68.3
	Johnson, B	70	R	65	71	36	10	91	71	100	-19	67.7
	Ferry	2	R	59	83	42	0	70	64	100	-29	66.7
	Clark	74	R	64	59	38	0	73	50	100	-7	65.9
65	Clark, S	63	R	60	55	38	10	91	36	100	-22	65.0
	Curtis	49	R	52	63	40	0	100	43	100	-33	64.5
	Wallace	42	R	57	60	31	10	80	50	100	-37	64.4
	Snow, G	54	R	63	75	50	0	78	?	?	-11	63.3
	Mathis *?	55	R	67	67	54	0	73	?	?	?	62.0
	Barrus	18	R	58	52	31	0	82	64	78	-26	61.9
	Noel	73	R	59	60	54	0	82	57	100	-7	61.7
60	Fisher *	17	R	65	65	54	0	55	?	?	?	59.9
	Cox, D	56	R	54	60	62	10	50	6	100	-26	58.7
	Aagard	15	R	62	62	67	0	73	50	78	-10	58.6
	Mascaro	47	R	49	50	37	10	70	50	100	-33	58.6
	Last	71	R	54	62	54	0	55	57	100	-22	58.5
	Ray *?	13	R	62	61	60	0	60	?	?	?	57.4
	Buxton	12	R	46	50	42	0	60	50	100	-33	56.8
	Dunnigan	39	R	58	64	73	0	67	57	78	-3	56.1
	Gibson *	6	R	60	60	69	0	73	?	?	?	55.7
	Hunsaker *	4	R	60	60	69	0	64	?	?	?	55.1
55	Hardy	20	R	44	48	54	0	73	50	100	-15	54.9
	Hutchings	38	R	49	60	62	0	82	71	78	-22	54.5
	Dee	11	R	52	50	69	0	64	57	100	-15	53.4
	Fowlke *	59	R	57	57	77	0	64	?	?	?	52.1
	Hogue	52	R	49	70	77	10	60	64	78	-30	51.6
50	Murray	8	R	44	48	69	10	55	57	100	-15	49.6
	Bigelow	32	R	56	50	85	10	64	64	78	-30	48.1
	Bowman	72	R	37	45	69	10	60	57	100	-37	46.7
	Menlove *			48	48	85	0	55	?	?	?	45.7
45	Holdaway	34	R	45	48	85	10	55	64	78	-11	44.8
	Lawrence	36	R	40	38	67	0	50	86	78	-33	43.2
	Allen	19	R	36	45	77	10	64	64	78	-44	42.9
	Average			64.9	69.1	49.1	2.5	77.5	39.5	66.9	-7.2	64.6

scale	Representative	Dist	Party	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	GAY	UTA	V4Mod	UAR	AccUT	CLI
	DEMOCRATS			Life	2005	2005	2005	2005	2003	2003	life2004	ave
35	Morgan	46	D	29	35	85	10	64	71	56	-70	34.7
	Gowans	21	D	41	37	100	80	55	57	89	-30	34.5
	Romero *	25	D	29	29	92	0	36	?	?	?	34.2
	Hendrickson	33	D	35	20	100	70	56	43	100	-18	32.3
30	Cosgrove *	44	D	19	19	92	0	45	?	?	?	30.1
	Duckworth	22	D	34	24	100	80	55	57	78	-10	29.9
	Wheatley *	35	D	20	20	100	0	45	?	?	?	29.0
	Wiley *	31	D	15	16	92	0	27	?	?	?	27.3
	Bourdeaux	23	D	23	33	86	80	45	79	67	-75	26.6
25	King	69	D	24	10	92	80	36	50	94	-37	25.4
	Hansen	9	D	26	24	100	80	55	71	67	-36	25.3
	Shurtliff	10	D	22	19	93	70	36	79	67	-51	23.0
	Jones	40	D	16	17	90	70	50	71	67	-85	21.9
	Litvack	26	D	17	24	92	80	36	86	67	-71	21.0
20	Goodfellow	29	D	19	20	100	80	40	71	67	-77	20.2
	Biskupski	30	D	22	14	100	80	50	86	67	-63	20.0
	McGee	28	D	16	24	92	100	55	93	67	-85	19.8
	Becker	24	D	17	14	92	80	27	71	39	-56	18.1
	Spackman - Moss	37	D	15	19	100	80	36	79	67	-85	17.9
	Average			23.1	22.0	94.6	58.9	44.7	56.0	55.7	-44.7	25.8

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