The Conservative - Liberal Index

"by their Fruits shall ye know them"

The Compiled 2012 Voting Ratings for the Utah Legislature continue to indicate there is still a philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats.

For simplicity, Conservatives may be defined as favoring LIMITED Government and PROTECTION of INDIVIDUAL rights and Liberals (or Progressives as they now redefine themselves) 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 2012 House goes to Rep.  Chris Herrod at 89.4 with Honorable Mention to Representatives Curt Oda, Ken Sumsion, Craig Frank, Mike Morley, Keith Grover, Ryan Wilcox, Dan McCay, Steve Sandstrom and Brad Daw. 

Conservative Leader positions in the Senate were changed from previous years with Sen.Mark Madsen (87.7) achieving top billing over perennial Margaret Dayton; new Sen Casey Anderson debuted in the number three spot, as Sen. Howard Stephenson fell to number 7 from his usual top three position.

The Most Liberal Awards goes to  Rep.Jennifer Seelig, (27.1),  and Senator Luz Robles , (33.1) edged out Sen Romero. He could use this in the campaign literature as he runs for Mayor.

The Conservatives (above CLI 70)  count  decreased by 6 to 34, but the  Liberals (below 30) were cut in half to 7 with 34 Mugwumps, firmly balanced on the fence in the middle in the House or maybe on the railing on the balcony.  The Senate scored a higher overall CLI than the House and showed  15 Conservatives, 0 Liberals and 14 Mugwumps. (Very strange, is it that there are fewer and fewer D's - but this is being posted on Friday the 13th)

While the Party philosophical difference is still evident, two Representives, Kraig Powell (R) and Neil Hendrickson (D), distinguished (?) themselves with an identity crisis by scoring in the realm of the other party.

Education ratings  again showed the polar opposites in the ratings, with Parents for Choice being a virtual mirror of Utah Education Association, with Democrats supporting UEA at 84% and the GOP opting for PCE with 82 in the House  and the Senate D's going 81 for UEA and R's at 91 to PCE.

The Sutherland Institute is a new entrant into the rating field and indicates the greatest differences between the parties 95% from the GOP and 38 for the Democrats in the Senate and 89 to 31 in the House.

The Deseret News apparently has given up on their "effective legislator" rating based on passing the highest percentage of bills, and the SL Tribune has not yet posted any ratings.    The Sierra Club and NFIB are late with their ratings or have given up.

Original sources of Rating groups used in the index:

• GrsRts (GR) = 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." 
• SuthInst= Sutherland Institute  "Our desire for freedom extends to generations to come and requires Sutherland constantly to educate Utah's elected officials, community leaders, and electorate in the principles of freedom."
• SIERRA = Sierra Club "activists dedicated to preserving and enjoying the land and quality of life in Utah and the West."

For more voting analyses see Vote Smart and Utah Data Points 

Each group has different criteria for their ratings, based on votes that the group consider favor or oppose "their" particular issues. It is strongly recommended to 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).

2012 Utah House CLI Ratings

Dist	County	Party		Representative	CLI	UTA	GR 2012	GR Life	PCE	UEA	SuthInst	UFIRE
62	Utah	R	Christopher	Herrod	89.4%	92%	91%	82%	100%	39%	100%	A
14	Davis	R	Curtis	Oda	89.0%	92%	96%	80%	100%	25%	100%	B
56	Utah	R	Kenneth	Sumsion	89.0%	92%	100%	86%	100%	35%	100%	B
57	Davis	R	Craig	Frank	87.9%	100%	91%	84%	100%	35%	100%	C+
66	Utah	R	Michael	Morley	87.7%	100%	100%	92%	83%	31%	100%	C
61	Utah	R	Keith	Grover	86.7%	93%	87%	76%	100%	29%	100%	B
7	Weber	R	Ryan	Wilcox	84.6%	92%	81%	78%	100%	44%	100%	B+
52	SLCo	R	Daniel	McCay	83.4%	91%	86%	86%	100%	29%	100%	D
58	Utah	R	Stephen	Sandstrom	82.3%	92%	86%	78%	78%	50%	92%	A
60	Utah	R	Bradley	Daw	82.1%	93%	90%	75%	100%	33%	100%	D
6	Weber	R	Brad	Galvez	82.0%	100%	82%	80%	89%	44%	92%	C+
67	Ut, Jb,Car,	R	Patrick	Painter	82.0%	83%	86%	69%	100%	29%	100%	C-
63	Utah	R	Dean	Sanpei	81.6%	93%	86%	80%	100%	41%	100%	D-
73	multi	R	Michael	Noel	80.4%	85%	87%	68%	100%	44%	100%	C-
59	Utah	R	Val	Peterson	80.1%	93%	87%	81%	89%	35%	100%	D-
19	Davis	R	Jim	Nielson	79.0%	71%	76%	80%	86%	40%	100%	B
51	SLCo	R	Gregory	Hughes	78.4%	92%	71%	74%	100%	43%	100%	D+
9	Weber	R	Jeremy	Peterson	77.9%	79%	78%	80%	100%	41%	100%	D
64	Utah	R	Becky	Lockhart	76.4%	91%	76%	80%	100%	22%	100%	F
27	SLCo	R	John	Dougall	76.4%	91%	95%	79%	100%	21%	91%	F-
50	SLCo	R	Merlynn	Newbold	76.3%	79%	90%	75%	90%	42%	92%	D
47	SLCo	R	Ken	Ivory	76.0%	64%	91%	88%	78%	56%	92%	C+
55	SLCo	R	John	Mathis	75.9%	100%	79%	66%	71%	52%	92%	C+
65	Utah	R	Francis	Gibson	75.9%	75%	73%	78%	89%	44%	85%	C+
75	Washington	R	Don	Ipson	75.1%	77%	68%	70%	89%	50%	92%	B
15	Davis	R	Brad	Wilson	73.9%	85%	82%	78%	89%	44%	77%	D
4	Cache	R	David	Butterfield	73.4%	69%	82%	74%	89%	33%	83%	D
11	Weber	R	Brad	Dee	72.4%	75%	75%	55%	100%	43%	100%	D-
8	SLCo	R	Gage	Froerer	72.1%	77%	65%	62%	89%	45%	92%	C-
32	SLCo	R	Fred	Cox	71.9%	71%	74%	76%	67%	50%	85%	B
68	San, Juab	R	Bill	Wright	71.6%	77%	95%	80%	90%	41%	100%	F-
17	Davis	R	Stewart	Barlow	70.6%	64%	61%	61%	78%	45%	100%	C+
71	Washington	R	Bradley	Last	70.4%	77%	59%	59%	78%	50%	90%	B
43	SLCo	R	Wayne	Harper	70.3%	92%	60%	68%	75%	44%	91%	D
48	SLCo	R	LaVar	Christensen	69.6%	71%	74%	69%	80%	64%	92%	C-
18	Davis	R	Roger	Barrus	68.3%	77%	78%	62%	75%	56%	92%	D
41	SLCo	R	Todd	Kiser	67.4%	71%	64%	65%	89%	47%	85%	D-
72	Iron	R	Evan	Vickers	67.1%	86%	61%	60%	75%	69%	92%	C-
5	Cache	R	Curt	Webb	67.1%	77%	74%	55%	75%	53%	92%	D
2	Box Elder	R	Lee	Perry	66.7%	79%	61%	61%	75%	44%	85%	D
74	Washington	R	V. Lowry	Snow	66.6%	64%	64%	64%	78%	56%	77%	C+
39	SLCo	R	James	Dunnigan	65.7%	85%	68%	57%	67%	61%	69%	C+
12	Weber	R	Richard	Greenwood	64.1%	79%	65%	63%	50%	50%	62%	B
10	Weber	R	Dixon	Pitcher	62.1%	64%	61%	64%	75%	56%	77%	D
45	SLCo	R	Steve	Eliason	61.9%	71%	45%	58%	78%	67%	73%	C+
13	Davis	R	Paul	Ray	59.6%	71%	50%	55%	71%	60%	80%	D
34	SLCo	R	Johnny	Anderson	59.4%	77%	80%	72%	63%	60%	64%	F
53	*	R	Mel	Brown	59.1%	69%	63%	52%	78%	59%	91%	F
1	Box Elder	R	Rhonda	Menlove	59.1%	69%	61%	44%	83%	63%	100%	F
49	SLCo	R	Derek	Brown	59.0%	50%	68%	68%	86%	56%	77%	F
3	Cache	R	Jack	Draxler	57.6%	69%	59%	50%	86%	63%	82%	F
16	Davis	R	Stephen	Handy	57.4%	64%	57%	55%	67%	76%	85%	D
38	SLCo	R	Eric	Hutchings	57.3%	64%	57%	57%	57%	67%	83%	D
70	multi	R	Kay	McIff	49.7%	58%	52%	43%	67%	75%	83%	F
20	SL/Davis	R	Becky	Edwards	49.6%	64%	43%	50%	70%	83%	83%	F
21	Tooele	R	Douglas	Sagers	48.4%	69%	52%	53%	43%	67%	69%	F
42	SLCo	R	Jim	Bird	47.4%	64%	62%	53%	44%	65%	54%	F
54	Was, Duc	R	Kraig	Powell	41.6%	57%	35%	54%	50%	87%	62%	F
				Average	70.9%	78.7%	73.1%	68.3%	82.4%	49.2%	88.9%	D
Dist	County	Party		Representative	CLI	UTA	GR 2012	GR Life	PCE	UEA	SuthInst	UFIRE
33	SLCo	Dem	Neil	Hendrickson	44.0%	54%	38%	38%	57%	82%	58%	D-
22	SLCo	Dem	Susan	Duckworth	40.3%	54%	43%	38%	33%	86%	50%	D
40	SLCo	Dem	Lynn	Hemingway	36.9%	57%	30%	24%	44%	78%	31%	D
30	SLCo	Dem	Brian	Doughty	36.7%	57%	27%	27%	44%	79%	31%	D
24	SLCo	Dem	Rebecca	Chavez Houck	36.1%	57%	30%	19%	56%	82%	23%	D
29	SLCo	Dem	Janice	Fisher	35.9%	58%	25%	29%	44%	82%	27%	D
31	SLCo	Dem	Larry	Wiley	35.4%	54%	30%	25%	63%	69%	25%	F
35	SLCo	Dem	Mark	Wheatley	34.4%	62%	27%	21%	67%	76%	20%	F
69	Carbon	Dem	Christine	Watkins	33.1%	57%	39%	34%	38%	94%	38%	F
28	SLCo	Dem	Brian	King	32.6%	50%	23%	22%	44%	84%	23%	D
46	SLCo	Dem	Marie	Poulson	29.9%	57%	18%	33%	40%	92%	33%	F
44	SLCo	Dem	Tim	Cosgrove	29.3%	57%	22%	21%	44%	90%	31%	F
26	SLCo	Dem	David	Litvak	29.0%	45%	22%	17%	56%	88%	31%	F
25	SLCo	Dem	Joel	Briscoe	28.9%	50%	14%	15%	33%	91%	31%	D
37	SLCo	Dem	Carol	Spackman Moss	28.3%	57%	22%	16%	40%	88%	31%	F
36	SLCo	Dem	Patrice	Arent	28.0%	57%	22%	19%	40%	87%	25%	F
23	SLCo	Dem	Jennifer	Seelig	27.1%	54%	29%	23%	29%	88%	23%	F
				Average	33.3%	55.1%	27.1%	24.8%	45.4%	84.5%	31.2%	F

2012 Utah Senate CLI Ratings

Dist	County	Party		Senator	CLI	UTA	GR 2012	GR Life	PCE	UEA	SuthInst	UFIRE
13	UT, Tooele	R	Mark	Madsen	87.7%	90%	85%	79%	100%	25%	100%	B+
15	Utah	R	Margaret	Dayton	86.4%	92%	94%	82%	100%	50%	92%	A
28	Iron	R	Casey	Anderson	85.3%	92%	94%	94%	100%	33%	100%	D
29	Washington	R	Stephen	Urquhart	83.1%	100%	64%	66%	100%	40%	92%	A+
12	SL/Tooele	R	Daniel	Thatcher	78.7%	90%	83%	85%	78%	47%	92%	C
27	multi	R	David	Hinkins	78.1%	70%	81%	73%	86%	50%	92%	A
11	SL/Utah	R	Howard	Stephenson	77.0%	100%	80%	76%	100%	37%	100%	F
20	Weber	R	Scott	Jenkins	76.7%	100%	88%	71%	100%	42%	100%	F
22	Davis	R	Stuart	Adams	76.1%	91%	78%	63%	100%	54%	100%	D+
10	SLCo	R	Aaron	Osmond	75.0%	83%	82%	82%	78%	50%	100%	D
23	Davis	R	Todd	Weiler	74.1%	92%	72%	72%	88%	67%	92%	C
21	Davis	R	Jerry	Stevenson	73.9%	91%	76%	74%	100%	44%	100%	F
18	Weber/Davis	R	Stuart	Reid	71.0%	83%	78%	74%	100%	58%	100%	F
16	Utah	R	Curtis	Bramble	70.4%	82%	82%	63%	88%	42%	100%	F
14	Utah	R	John	Valentine	70.3%	91%	87%	58%	86%	50%	100%	F
9	SLCo	R	Wayne	Niederhauser	69.7%	78%	80%	67%	100%	57%	100%	F
6	SLCo	R	Michael	Waddoups	68.9%	100%	89%	63%	86%	67%	91%	F
24	multi	R	Ralph	Okerland	68.6%	83%	78%	71%	88%	60%	100%	F
19	Mor,Sum,Web	R	Allen	Christensen	68.1%	75%	78%	61%	88%	45%	100%	F
17	multi	R	Peter	Knudson	67.9%	78%	64%	44%	100%	64%	83%	C
26	Was,Duc,Uint	R	Kevin	VanTassell	57.1%	67%	60%	55%	63%	55%	90%	F
25	Cache,Rich	R	Lyle	Hillyard	51.1%	89%	54%	45%	63%	80%	67%	F
				Average	73.4%	87.1%	78.5%	69.0%	90.5%	50.8%	95.0%	D
5	SLCo	Dem	Karen	Mayne	46.6%	75%	24%	37%	57%	73%	36%	C
3	SLCo	Dem	Gene	Davis	40.7%	80%	24%	21%	71%	73%	42%	F
8	SLCo	Dem	Karen	Morgan	40.0%	67%	28%	33%	50%	76%	58%	F
2	SLCo	Dem	Ben	McAdams	39.9%	82%	19%	27%	75%	77%	33%	F
4	SLCo	Dem	Patricia	Jones	39.6%	73%	31%	24%	75%	91%	45%	F
7	SLCo	Dem	Ross	Romero	37.4%	67%	18%	24%	63%	85%	25%	D
1	SLCo	Dem	Luz	Robles	33.1%	64%	28%	29%	57%	91%	25%	F
				Average	39.6%	72.6%	24.6%	27.9%	64.0%	80.9%	37.7%	F

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