2008 CLI Summary

The Conservative - Liberal Index

"by their Fruits shall ye know them"


Once again, the 2008 Voting Records of the Utah Legislature indicate there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats.

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. The Conservative - Liberal Index (CLI) is a compiled aggregate of various ratings to determine who is "truly" Conservative or "really" Liberal.

The Most Conservative Award for the FOURTH consecutive year goes to Rep. Morley at 83.8; with Honorable Mention to Representatives Tilton, Wimmer, Oda, Donnelson, Sumsion, Frank, Herrod, Dougall, and Hughes.


Leader in the Senate was Senator Dayton for the SECOND year - she edged out Senators Madsen and Stephenson (again) at the top of the Senate list.

The Most Liberal Award goes to Rep. Moss, with several Democrats vying for that coveted title; and Senator Romero winning the Senate.

This year, ALL Republicans but one achieved a CLI higher than ALL Democrats. This year, the highest Democrat (Duckworth) had a higher CLI than the lowest ranking Republicans (McIff)

All told, we might count 42 Conservatives (above 60), 29 Liberals (below 40) and 33 Mugwumps, firmly balanced on the fence. (2007 had 45/32/27 and 2006 showed 41/31/33) Some might declare that a balanced, moderate group, others might yearn for stronger principles.

There was, again, a minor change in 2008 of groups "rating" our Utah legislators. The "Gay" rights ratings used previously has disappeared, but replaced by Equality Utah which focuses on the same issue, but must be more "moderate" (or successful).

The UAR (realtors) have so many legislative members, they may have decided they didn't need to rate them for the last couple years.

The Deseret News may has dropped its "effective legislator" based on passing the most bills. They continued a grading report based on attendance, which doesn't show much as must legislators voted (attended) over 90% of the time.

Rating groups used:

GrsRts = GrassRoots ( http://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 ( http://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."

Eqlty = Equality Utah mission: "To secure equal rights and protections for LGBT Utahns and their families."

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

UFIRE =Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement Illegal immigration issues

SIERRA = Sierra Club "activists dedicated to preserving and enjoying the land and quality of life in Utah and the West. "

Each group has different criteria for their ratings, based on votes that the group consider favor or oppose "their" particular issues. Please refer to the individual websites for bills considered and rating considerations which were used.

	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	Eqlty	UTA	UFIRE	Sierra
	Life	2008	2008	2007	2008	2008	2008	CLI
HOUSE
REPUBLICAN	57	54	56	60	81	80	59	62
DEMOCRAT	23	26	97	92	53	16	89	24
SENATE
REPUBLICAN	49	50	44	38	80	67	62	53
DEMOCRAT	21	28	95	75	57	41	85	24

Utah House CLI 2008

The Conservative Liberal Index rating for the Utah House in 2008.

Representative GrsRts GrsRts UEA Eqlty UTA UFIRE Sierra REPUBLICANS Life 2008 2008 2007 2008 2008 2008 CLI Morley 66 R 88 74 14 50 93 90 25 83.8 Tilton 65 R 85 81 11 33 86 90 33 83.4 Wimmer 52 R 82 86 22 67 92 90 25 80.8 Oda 14 R 77 77 27 50 93 90 33 79.4 Donnelson 7 R 79 73 27 67 87 100 38 77.8 Sumsion 56 R 70 65 31 67 93 90 29 75.5 Frank 57 R 83 77 36 67 86 85 29 75.3 Herrod 62 R 71 67 33 50 79 100 50 73.3 Dougall 27 R 70 64 36 67 93 90 57 72.3 Hughes 51 R 73 67 33 67 86 90 57 71.8 Lockhart 64 R 80 60 27 50 77 85 67 70.8 Painter 67 R 60 53 37 50 85 78 25 69.6 Daw 60 R 66 50 36 50 85 85 50 69.6 Noel 73 R 59 60 36 67 80 90 43 68.0 Urquhart 75 R 64 60 33 59 83 85 67 67.9 Sandstrom 58 R 63 59 60 50 77 100 33 67.8 Newbold 50 R 70 53 38 67 85 90 75 67.5 Grover 61 R 58 57 55 50 87 90 50 67.0 Harper 43 R 67 70 50 67 85 90 75 66.4 Kiser 41 R 63 62 55 67 87 90 57 66.3 Bigelow 32 R 54 65 44 50 82 90 71 65.8 Anderson 48 R 54 55 36 67 87 90 75 65.8 Walker 45 R 51 47 43 67 93 85 60 65.4 Curtis 49 R 53 50 44 50 91 78 67 65.0 Garn 16 R 66 53 45 67 75 90 57 64.7 Ray 13 R 49 55 50 67 86 85 57 63.1 Aagard 15 R 61 59 73 67 87 90 63 62.2 Fisher, Julie 17 R 52 60 73 50 87 90 63 62.2 Clark, D 74 R 57 55 50 50 86 70 71 62.2 Dee 11 R 46 60 60 50 80 90 75 60.6 Last 71 R 53 57 64 67 79 90 63 60.2 Hutchings 38 R 52 60 70 67 80 90 57 60.0 Barrus 18 R 58 59 82 67 86 90 63 59.9 Mathis 55 R 52 44 80 67 80 90 25 59.7 Clark, S 63 R 52 45 40 50 69 80 71 59.6 Gibson 6 R 47 30 57 67 79 85 38 59.3 Froerer 8 R 57 62 70 50 80 80 75 59.3 Winn 68 R 47 47 56 59 83 80 83 58.0 Greenwood 12 R 50 50 64 59 69 85 50 57.5 Snow, G 54 R 58 52 73 50 80 70 75 56.4 Neuenschwander 20 R 50 52 82 67 80 90 71 55.8 Webb 5 R 39 41 50 40 73 65 75 54.4 Ferry 2 R 54 33 60 67 67 70 63 52.7 Draxler 3 R 41 50 55 67 69 70 86 51.3 Bird 42 R 42 43 100 67 80 90 71 50.8 Bowman 72 R 35 22 80 50 86 60 59 50.1 Dunnigan 39 R 48 41 100 67 73 80 63 48.8 Mascaro 47 R 41 32 89 50 73 70 71 47.8 Hunsaker 4 R 43 41 82 67 64 62 75 44.8 Allen 19 R 35 45 91 67 64 70 75 43.6 Menlove 1 R 33 27 73 83 67 60 63 43.5 Holdaway 34 R 39 25 93 50 67 62 71 43.4 Fowlke 59 R 48 38 67 50 73 0 71 41.5 Brown 53 R 36 30 90 67 64 60 71 41.3 McIff 70 R 36 40 91 67 86 0 83 36.5 Average 56.7 53.5 55.9 59.6 80.8 80.1 59.0 61.6 DEMOCRATS Duckworth 22 D 34 26 87 83 60 60 86 37.6 Morgan 46 D 30 50 100 83 53 80 100 37.2 Hansen 9 D 27 25 91 83 85 0 63 33.8 Gowans 21 D 39 30 79 67 62 0 63 33.8 King 69 D 23 19 90 100 57 60 75 33.4 Wheatley 35 D 22 24 92 100 43 60 75 29.8 Hendrickson 33 D 37 70 90 83 46 0 63 29.7 Riesen 36 D 15 14 100 83 47 60 100 26.8 Shurtliff 10 D 22 29 100 83 60 0 83 23.9 Cosgrove 44 D 17 14 100 83 60 0 86 21.6 Hemingway 40 D 22 27 100 100 60 0 100 20.9 Wiley 31 D 19 18 100 100 53 0 88 18.9 Chavez-Houck 24 D 23 23 100 91 47 0 100 18.3 Johnson, C 25 D 20 24 100 100 47 0 88 18.1 Seelig 23 D 22 27 100 100 47 0 100 17.7 Fisher, Janice 29 D 26 19 100 100 47 0 100 17.7 Biskupski 30 D 21 26 100 100 47 0 100 17.4 McGee 28 D 15 15 100 100 47 0 100 15.5 Litvack 26 D 16 18 100 100 43 0 100 14.9 Moss 37 D 15 18 100 100 43 0 100 14.8 Average 23.3 25.8 96.5 92.0 52.7 16.0 88.5 24.1

Utah Senate CLI 2008

The Conservative Liberal Index rating for the Utah Senate in 2008.

Senator	Dist		GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	Eqlty	UTA	UFIRE	Sierra
REPUBLICANS			Life	2008	2008	2007	2008	2008	2008	CLI
Dayton	15	R	81	70	11	50	94	85	14	81.0
Madsen	13	R	71	74	22	50	100	80	20	76.2
Stephenson	11	R	74	74	30	50	100	60	50	68.2
Hickman	29	R	57	56	40	25	91	85	50	67.6
Peterson	24	R	70	61	45	50	93	80	43	67.1
Jenkins	20	R	69	60	44	25	93	60	57	64.1
Neiderhauser	9	R	54	50	44	25	94	80	60	63.9
Bramble	16	R	58	58	30	50	93	80	80	63.7
Stowell	28	R	58	61	44	50	88	80	57	63.0
Waddoups	6	R	57	60	44	50	94	85	71	62.9
Valentine	14	R	55	50	43	25	85	80	67	62.7
Killpack	21	R	52	55	50	50	87	80	67	58.9
Buttars	10	R	56	55	57	25	91	60	50	58.9
Eastman	23	R	47	55	44	50	87	80	71	58.7
Walker	8	R	48	47	50	50	94	80	67	58.0
Knudsen	17	R	37	47	44	50	81	80	71	55.3
Hillyard	25	R	43	50	50	25	81	80	100	55.2
Bell	22	R	44	56	56	50	88	80	80	55.0
Greiner	18	R	51	53	78	50	79	80	86	50.2
VanTassell	26	R	47	53	87	50	93	60	83	45.3
Christensen	19	R	51	44	50	50	58	30	83	43.1
			49.0	49.8	44.3	38.1	79.5	66.7	61.6	53.4
DEMOCRATS
Dmitrich	27	D	26	45	100	50	50	60	83	33.4
Goodfellow	12	D	21	47	100	75	75	60	86	32.3
Jones	4	D	17	20	78	75	69	60	100	31.2
Mayne	5	D	20	20	100	75	56	60	57	30.4
Fife	1	D	21	25	78	75	50	0	71	21.5
McCoy	2	D	17	30	100	75	57	0	100	14.6
Davis	3	D	20	15	100	75	43	0	83	14.0
Romero	7	D	22	20	100	100	56	0	100	12.0
			20.5	27.8	94.5	75.0	57.0	41.7	85.0	23.7