A Compilation of Various Ratings of the Voting Records of the Utah Legislature. A listing of other ratings may be found under links at the bottom of the blog.

Friday, April 29, 2011

2011 Conservative Liberal Index

The Conservative - Liberal Index
"by their Fruits shall ye know them"


The Compiled 2011 Voting Ratings for the Utah Legislature continue to indicate there is still a philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats.  (Now if only more voters could understand nationally, we might not have an umpteen trillion dollar debt.)

For simplicity, Conservatives may be defined as favoring 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 2010 House goes to Rep. Carl Wimmer at 90.9 with Honorable Mention to Representatives Mike Morley, Merlynn Newbold,  Chris Herrod, Keith Grover, Ken Sumsion, and Greg Hughes.

Conservative Leader positions in the Senate were juggled again for the top three with Sen.Margaret Dayton Mark Madsen and Howard Stephenson again achieving top billing. 

The Most Liberal Award goes to newcomer Rep. Briscoe, (10.3), the most liberal rating attained in the seven ears of this report; and Senator Ross Romero, (24.3) again retained his liberal dominance of the Senate.

Tightening the standards this year, we can count 40 Conservatives (above CLI 70), 14 Liberals (below 30) and 21 Mugwumps, firmly balanced on the fence in the middle in the House.  With the Senate exhibiting some strange machination this year, they still attained 18 Conservatives, 4 Liberals and 7 Mugwumps.  (Perhaps consideration of the CLI weighting is needed.)

This year, in the Mugwump category Reps. Edwards, McIff, Bird, Menlove, Duckworth, Hendrickson and Watkins appear to be considering swapping parties, or perhaps they should all just admit to their liberal status.
Education ratings showed the biggest disparities in the ratings, with Parents for Choice being a virtual mirror of Utah Education Association, with Democrats supporting UEA at 94% and the GOP opting for PCE with 87 in the House  and the Senate D's going 86 for UEA and R's at 96 to PCE.

The Deseret News missed or is late with its "effective legislator" based on passing the highest percentage of bills, and the SL Tribune attempted to copy this blog idea.  Basically, they used the same ratings, but somehow achieved different answers.  The Trib rating is shown but was not used in the composite CLI Index.

Rating groups used in the index:

  • GrsRts = GrassRoots 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 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."
  • 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
  • PCE = Parents for Choice in Education "dedicated to ensuring every child has equal access to a quality education by empowering parents, increasing choice, and promoting innovative solutions to Utah’s educational challenges."
  • SIERRA = Sierra Club "activists dedicated to preserving and enjoying the land and quality of life in Utah and the West."
NRA for 2010 were reported at http://www.votesmart.com/

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.   (The quotes above from the websites, may have changed as some organization often redefine themselves based on their perception of current public 'need.')

Our apologies for any inadvertent errors that may have occurred in copying numbers, there were a lot of them (numbers, not errors).

2011 Utah Senate CLI Ratings


DistSenator
CLIGrsRtsGrsRtsUEAUTAUFIRESierraPCENRASLTrib


REPUBLICANSCity2011Life20112011201120112011201120102011
R15Dayton Orem84.882811892A29100A+81.2
R13Madsen Eagle Mtn84.578931791B33100
86.8
R11Stephenson, HDraper81.475751692D29100A+84.4
R23LiljenquistBountiful80.763833192B+20100
83.2
R12ThatcherW Valley80.487872577A-3391A81.2
R21Stevenson, J*Layton80.372751992D29100B+83.8
R10ButtarsW Jordan79.962732391D17100
84.2
R29UrquhartSt George79.766732077A29100
80.2
R22AdamsLayton79.261732592D+20100A84.0
R9Neiderhauser Sandy78.165762292F17100A85.8
R20JenkinsPlain City76.570672582D29100
68.0
R18Reid *Ogden75.771712085F29100B81.4
R14ValentineOrem74.957691992F29100
82.6
R16BrambleProvo74.462873889F20100
83.6
R24Okerlund Monroe73.969763585D2991
77.6
R27HinkinsOrangeville71.272804767A2986
70.0
R17KnudsonBrigham70.543753869D+1791A+67.8
R6WaddoupsTaylorsville70.061763177F2991
78.6
R19Christensen N Ogden68.859694477D2991
72.8
R28Stowell Parowan67.766703880F3388
73.4
R26VanTassell Vernal64.455695069D+2980A60.8
R25HillyardLogan58.444534477F4080
57.2




75.265.575.029.383.5D27.295.0

















DEMOCRATS










D8MorganCtnwd Hgts38.433537650D6745
42.0
D5MayneW Valley36.740508846D+6750A48.2
D3DavisSLC33.621247646F5755B-38.4
D2McAdams* SLC29.831339246F7156C34.4
D4Jones Holladay29.623448758F8350D-44.6
D1RoblesSLC26.429369342F7140
38.8
D7Romero SLC24.825358838F8645D-37.8




31.428.939.385.746.6F71.749.1

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

2011 Utah House CLI Ratings


 

Representative
CLIGrsRtsGrsRtsUEAUTAUFIRESierraPCENRASLTrib


REPUBLICANSCity2011Life20112011201120112011201120102011
R52Wimmer Herriman90.9899517100A+25100A+90.6
R66Morley Sp Fork89.591942191B+14100A73.6
R50NewboldS Jordan87.274892590A14100A+84.0
R62Herrod Provo86.380892591A+29100A85.2
R61Grover Provo85.8747918100A25100A+87.2
R56Sumsion Lehi85.783893278A13100A69.8
R51HughesDraper85.775792088A17100A74.8
R27Dougall Highland85.776881382D+14100A88.6
R14Oda Clearfield84.878891990B+38100A+84.4
R74Clark, DSanta Clara84.1608418100A38100A85.6
R47Ivory *W Jordan83.583833191A29100A82.8
R57Richardson *P Grove82.984842991D+13100na70.6
R17Fisher, Julie FruitHeights81.763932491C+43100A79.8
R75IpsonSt George81.671842582A43100A74.2
R15Wilson *Kaysville81.2727220100C25100A-81.8
R60Daw Orem81.172822790C-25100A+78.8
R32Cox *W Valley81.179793191A2591na84.0
R19Nielson *Bountiful80.984843973A29100A77.8
R71Last St George80.859823190B25100A84.0
R67Painter Nephi79.766783189C+25100A80.4
R43HarperW Jordan79.568792990C-1390A72.6
R73Noel Kanab78.966792782B-38100A67.2
R64LockhartProvo78.380812975D+33100A+75.2
R55Mathis Naples78.364843975A2590A79.4
R45Eliason *Sandy78.372723082B+38100na77.2
R41Kiser Sandy78.065792591D-29100A79.6
R59Peterson, V *Orem77.9747429100D-25100D67.6
R48Christensen *Draper77.268782880D-25100A73.6
R6GalvezW Haven77.179793582C2591A-74.8
R8Froerer Huntsville76.862682991D-14100A71.2
R18BarrusCenterville76.861793182C+2991A74.2
R38HutchingsKearns75.657673880D-0100A-81.8
R4Butterfield *Logan74.865652989D-25100na80.0
R63Sanpei *Provo74.574744182C2591na78.0
R65Gibson, F Mapleton73.780845673A2982A74.4
R13Ray Clearfield72.956635078A080A+76.4
R7WilcoxOgden72.477743873C2982A+63.2
R34AndersonTaylorsville71.968741973F14100A-81.0
R68WrightHolden71.779763190F14100A75.2
R58Sandstrom Orem71.377896064A+2970A+58.2
R9Peterson, J *Ogden68.583834073F29100A77.4
R10Pitcher *Ogden67.668685082C3882B+72.4
R5Webb Logan65.951613382F14100A79.2
R11Dee WashTerr64.752755456D+2573A70.4
R54PowellHeber64.660685564D-2582B+58.4
R3Draxler N Logan64.448503367D-2580B+71.8
R49Brown, D *Sandy64.067673882F38100A74.6
R16Handy *Layton63.453535073D2582A-70.2
R72VickersCedarCity62.360635373D-2973B+70.8
R39Dunnigan Taylorsville59.756686973A3855A80.6
R12Greenwood Roy55.762586555A3845A62.0
R53Brown, M Coalville53.751606756F4063A61.8
R2Perry *Perry52.461617645D-2555A-61.0
R21Sagers *Tooele46.953538645D+2944na53.0
R20EdwardsN SaltLake42.353429545D-2545C42.4
R70McIff Richfield40.340417845F1755C45.4
R42Bird W Jordan39.2515310036D-1420A53.0
R1Menlove Garland31.741449427F2536A-51.0


Average
72.467.573.840.176.7D25.387.2

















DEMOCRATS










D22DuckworthMagna40.036449436D2536A-50.2
D33HendricksonW Valley38.338328836D-2536A-51.0
D69WatkinsPrice32.2323210040D-3827A32.2
D31Wiley W Valley23.924329336F6336A-29.6
D46PoulsonCtnwdHgts22.138289536F7536C38.8
D28KingSLC21.1211710030D-8827C17.2
D35Wheatley Murray19.921119445F6336B-39.8
D37MossHolladay18.715119536F6336D25.0
D30BiskupskiSLC18.420118736F8640D-17.4
D24Chavez-HouckSLC17.916119427D10018D-16.0
D26LitvackSLC16.71608840F8845C-21.8
D23Seelig SLC14.722119336F8627B-25.0
D44Cosgrove Murray14.421218918F10027B-28.2
D36ArentMillcreek14.31869440F10040C-19.4
D29Fisher, JaniceW Valley14.3302210030F8620C-17.2
D40Hemingway Holladay14.022119422F8327C-31.2
D25Briscoe *SLC10.3161610036F10018na21.4


Average
20.623.918.694.033.8F74.631.3