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

	Dist	Senator		CLI	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	UTA	UFIRE	Sierra	PCE	NRA	SLTrib
		REPUBLICANS	City	2011	Life	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	2010	2011
R	15	Dayton	Orem	84.8	82	81	18	92	A	29	100	A+	81.2
R	13	Madsen	Eagle Mtn	84.5	78	93	17	91	B	33	100		86.8
R	11	Stephenson, H	Draper	81.4	75	75	16	92	D	29	100	A+	84.4
R	23	Liljenquist	Bountiful	80.7	63	83	31	92	B+	20	100		83.2
R	12	Thatcher	W Valley	80.4	87	87	25	77	A-	33	91	A	81.2
R	21	Stevenson, J*	Layton	80.3	72	75	19	92	D	29	100	B+	83.8
R	10	Buttars	W Jordan	79.9	62	73	23	91	D	17	100		84.2
R	29	Urquhart	St George	79.7	66	73	20	77	A	29	100		80.2
R	22	Adams	Layton	79.2	61	73	25	92	D+	20	100	A	84.0
R	9	Neiderhauser	Sandy	78.1	65	76	22	92	F	17	100	A	85.8
R	20	Jenkins	Plain City	76.5	70	67	25	82	D	29	100		68.0
R	18	Reid *	Ogden	75.7	71	71	20	85	F	29	100	B	81.4
R	14	Valentine	Orem	74.9	57	69	19	92	F	29	100		82.6
R	16	Bramble	Provo	74.4	62	87	38	89	F	20	100		83.6
R	24	Okerlund	Monroe	73.9	69	76	35	85	D	29	91		77.6
R	27	Hinkins	Orangeville	71.2	72	80	47	67	A	29	86		70.0
R	17	Knudson	Brigham	70.5	43	75	38	69	D+	17	91	A+	67.8
R	6	Waddoups	Taylorsville	70.0	61	76	31	77	F	29	91		78.6
R	19	Christensen	N Ogden	68.8	59	69	44	77	D	29	91		72.8
R	28	Stowell	Parowan	67.7	66	70	38	80	F	33	88		73.4
R	26	VanTassell	Vernal	64.4	55	69	50	69	D+	29	80	A	60.8
R	25	Hillyard	Logan	58.4	44	53	44	77	F	40	80		57.2
				75.2	65.5	75.0	29.3	83.5	D	27.2	95.0
		DEMOCRATS
D	8	Morgan	Ctnwd Hgts	38.4	33	53	76	50	D	67	45		42.0
D	5	Mayne	W Valley	36.7	40	50	88	46	D+	67	50	A	48.2
D	3	Davis	SLC	33.6	21	24	76	46	F	57	55	B-	38.4
D	2	McAdams*	SLC	29.8	31	33	92	46	F	71	56	C	34.4
D	4	Jones	Holladay	29.6	23	44	87	58	F	83	50	D-	44.6
D	1	Robles	SLC	26.4	29	36	93	42	F	71	40		38.8
D	7	Romero	SLC	24.8	25	35	88	38	F	86	45	D-	37.8
				31.4	28.9	39.3	85.7	46.6	F	71.7	49.1

2011 Utah House CLI Ratings

		Representative		CLI	GrsRts	GrsRts	UEA	UTA	UFIRE	Sierra	PCE	NRA	SLTrib
		REPUBLICANS	City	2011	Life	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	2011	2010	2011
R	52	Wimmer	Herriman	90.9	89	95	17	100	A+	25	100	A+	90.6
R	66	Morley	Sp Fork	89.5	91	94	21	91	B+	14	100	A	73.6
R	50	Newbold	S Jordan	87.2	74	89	25	90	A	14	100	A+	84.0
R	62	Herrod	Provo	86.3	80	89	25	91	A+	29	100	A	85.2
R	61	Grover	Provo	85.8	74	79	18	100	A	25	100	A+	87.2
R	56	Sumsion	Lehi	85.7	83	89	32	78	A	13	100	A	69.8
R	51	Hughes	Draper	85.7	75	79	20	88	A	17	100	A	74.8
R	27	Dougall	Highland	85.7	76	88	13	82	D+	14	100	A	88.6
R	14	Oda	Clearfield	84.8	78	89	19	90	B+	38	100	A+	84.4
R	74	Clark, D	Santa Clara	84.1	60	84	18	100	A	38	100	A	85.6
R	47	Ivory *	W Jordan	83.5	83	83	31	91	A	29	100	A	82.8
R	57	Richardson *	P Grove	82.9	84	84	29	91	D+	13	100	na	70.6
R	17	Fisher, Julie	FruitHeights	81.7	63	93	24	91	C+	43	100	A	79.8
R	75	Ipson	St George	81.6	71	84	25	82	A	43	100	A	74.2
R	15	Wilson *	Kaysville	81.2	72	72	20	100	C	25	100	A-	81.8
R	60	Daw	Orem	81.1	72	82	27	90	C-	25	100	A+	78.8
R	32	Cox *	W Valley	81.1	79	79	31	91	A	25	91	na	84.0
R	19	Nielson *	Bountiful	80.9	84	84	39	73	A	29	100	A	77.8
R	71	Last	St George	80.8	59	82	31	90	B	25	100	A	84.0
R	67	Painter	Nephi	79.7	66	78	31	89	C+	25	100	A	80.4
R	43	Harper	W Jordan	79.5	68	79	29	90	C-	13	90	A	72.6
R	73	Noel	Kanab	78.9	66	79	27	82	B-	38	100	A	67.2
R	64	Lockhart	Provo	78.3	80	81	29	75	D+	33	100	A+	75.2
R	55	Mathis	Naples	78.3	64	84	39	75	A	25	90	A	79.4
R	45	Eliason *	Sandy	78.3	72	72	30	82	B+	38	100	na	77.2
R	41	Kiser	Sandy	78.0	65	79	25	91	D-	29	100	A	79.6
R	59	Peterson, V *	Orem	77.9	74	74	29	100	D-	25	100	D	67.6
R	48	Christensen *	Draper	77.2	68	78	28	80	D-	25	100	A	73.6
R	6	Galvez	W Haven	77.1	79	79	35	82	C	25	91	A-	74.8
R	8	Froerer	Huntsville	76.8	62	68	29	91	D-	14	100	A	71.2
R	18	Barrus	Centerville	76.8	61	79	31	82	C+	29	91	A	74.2
R	38	Hutchings	Kearns	75.6	57	67	38	80	D-	0	100	A-	81.8
R	4	Butterfield *	Logan	74.8	65	65	29	89	D-	25	100	na	80.0
R	63	Sanpei *	Provo	74.5	74	74	41	82	C	25	91	na	78.0
R	65	Gibson, F	Mapleton	73.7	80	84	56	73	A	29	82	A	74.4
R	13	Ray	Clearfield	72.9	56	63	50	78	A	0	80	A+	76.4
R	7	Wilcox	Ogden	72.4	77	74	38	73	C	29	82	A+	63.2
R	34	Anderson	Taylorsville	71.9	68	74	19	73	F	14	100	A-	81.0
R	68	Wright	Holden	71.7	79	76	31	90	F	14	100	A	75.2
R	58	Sandstrom	Orem	71.3	77	89	60	64	A+	29	70	A+	58.2
R	9	Peterson, J *	Ogden	68.5	83	83	40	73	F	29	100	A	77.4
R	10	Pitcher *	Ogden	67.6	68	68	50	82	C	38	82	B+	72.4
R	5	Webb	Logan	65.9	51	61	33	82	F	14	100	A	79.2
R	11	Dee	WashTerr	64.7	52	75	54	56	D+	25	73	A	70.4
R	54	Powell	Heber	64.6	60	68	55	64	D-	25	82	B+	58.4
R	3	Draxler	N Logan	64.4	48	50	33	67	D-	25	80	B+	71.8
R	49	Brown, D *	Sandy	64.0	67	67	38	82	F	38	100	A	74.6
R	16	Handy *	Layton	63.4	53	53	50	73	D	25	82	A-	70.2
R	72	Vickers	CedarCity	62.3	60	63	53	73	D-	29	73	B+	70.8
R	39	Dunnigan	Taylorsville	59.7	56	68	69	73	A	38	55	A	80.6
R	12	Greenwood	Roy	55.7	62	58	65	55	A	38	45	A	62.0
R	53	Brown, M	Coalville	53.7	51	60	67	56	F	40	63	A	61.8
R	2	Perry *	Perry	52.4	61	61	76	45	D-	25	55	A-	61.0
R	21	Sagers *	Tooele	46.9	53	53	86	45	D+	29	44	na	53.0
R	20	Edwards	N SaltLake	42.3	53	42	95	45	D-	25	45	C	42.4
R	70	McIff	Richfield	40.3	40	41	78	45	F	17	55	C	45.4
R	42	Bird	W Jordan	39.2	51	53	100	36	D-	14	20	A	53.0
R	1	Menlove	Garland	31.7	41	44	94	27	F	25	36	A-	51.0
		Average		72.4	67.5	73.8	40.1	76.7	D	25.3	87.2
		DEMOCRATS
D	22	Duckworth	Magna	40.0	36	44	94	36	D	25	36	A-	50.2
D	33	Hendrickson	W Valley	38.3	38	32	88	36	D-	25	36	A-	51.0
D	69	Watkins	Price	32.2	32	32	100	40	D-	38	27	A	32.2
D	31	Wiley	W Valley	23.9	24	32	93	36	F	63	36	A-	29.6
D	46	Poulson	CtnwdHgts	22.1	38	28	95	36	F	75	36	C	38.8
D	28	King	SLC	21.1	21	17	100	30	D-	88	27	C	17.2
D	35	Wheatley	Murray	19.9	21	11	94	45	F	63	36	B-	39.8
D	37	Moss	Holladay	18.7	15	11	95	36	F	63	36	D	25.0
D	30	Biskupski	SLC	18.4	20	11	87	36	F	86	40	D-	17.4
D	24	Chavez-Houck	SLC	17.9	16	11	94	27	D	100	18	D-	16.0
D	26	Litvack	SLC	16.7	16	0	88	40	F	88	45	C-	21.8
D	23	Seelig	SLC	14.7	22	11	93	36	F	86	27	B-	25.0
D	44	Cosgrove	Murray	14.4	21	21	89	18	F	100	27	B-	28.2
D	36	Arent	Millcreek	14.3	18	6	94	40	F	100	40	C-	19.4
D	29	Fisher, Janice	W Valley	14.3	30	22	100	30	F	86	20	C-	17.2
D	40	Hemingway	Holladay	14.0	22	11	94	22	F	83	27	C-	31.2
D	25	Briscoe *	SLC	10.3	16	16	100	36	F	100	18	na	21.4
		Average		20.6	23.9	18.6	94.0	33.8	F	74.6	31.3

2010 Conservative Liberal Index

The Conservative - Liberal Index

"by their Fruits shall ye know them"

The Compiled 2010 Voting Ratings for the Utah Legislature continue to indicate there is more than a "dime's worth" of difference between Republicans and Democrats.  (perhaps a dollar, with inflation)

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. Mike Morley at 82.5 with Honorable Mention to Representatives Merlynn Newbold, Steve Sandstrom, Craig Frank, Carl Wimmer, Chris Herrod, Ken Sumsion, Keith Grover, Francis Gibson, and Brad Daw.

Conservative Leader positions in the Senate were juggled for the top three with Sen. Howard Stephenson (86.6) wresting top billing from Sen. Margaret Dayton, (85.2), and Mark Madsen, (82.2).

The Most Liberal Award goes to Rep. Rebecca Chavez-Houck, (16.4), with several Democrats vying for that coveted title; and Senator Ross Romero, (20.9) retains his liberal dominance of the Senate.

This year, ALL Republicans  achieved a CLI Higher than ALL Democrats, except Reps. Allen and Mascaro who were edged out by Reps. Gowans and Hendricskson

All told, we can count 62 Conservatives (above CLI 60), 26 Liberals (below 40) and 16 Mugwumps, firmly balanced on the fence in the middle. (2009 had 49/29/25).  The Year of the Tea Party seems to be solidifying the philosophic divide (towards the RIGHT side) and tipping the mugwumps away from the middle.

Education ratings showed the biggest disparities in the ratings, with Parents for Choice being a virtual mirror of Utah Education Association, however the UEA lost its 2009 unanimity among the Democrats dropping to a mere 90% support.  The GOP exhibited much more of that desired 'diversity' in their education votes.

Equality Utah, which focuses on "gay" rights, failed to post any rating so far this year, so was removed from the report.

The Deseret News returned with its "effective legislator" based on passing the highest percentage of bills. Their rating is included for comic relief (and not used in the composite CLI Index).

We considered changing the Index name to Conservative Progressive Index (CPI), in deference to the Liberal propensity to redefine and adopt a more 'friendly' appearance to continue their quest toward 'change.'

We once again have used the ruse of carrying out our 'significant' number to one decimal place to create the apearance of accuracy of determination of the results.   The numbers are guaranteed,  in the words of the pollsters, to be accurate to about + or - 4.5% (+ or -) and NOT based on the confusing questions asked of 454 people.

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."

These Ratings were NOT used in CLIndex:
DNews = Deseret News appears to promote that the more laws, the better.

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.')