In this blog and other news sources, there is an ongoing dialog about which GOP legislators are conservative or moderate or liberal. I think it might be instructive to take an actual look at the recently released 2005 California Republican Assembly Scorecard. I write this because I took the time today to actually read the votes that the legislators are judged on for the card. The votes pretty fairly expresses a range of "conservative" fiscal and social issues, including minimum wage hikes, 2nd Amendment questions, gay marriage, taxes, illegal immigration, and the budget.
And after reading this, and looking at the votes and scores of our legislative delegation, it can be pretty fairly concluded the the Republican Senate and Assembly delegation are as a whole pretty
conservative. Basically a 94% vote means the legislator disagreed with the CRA position once – and usually that was on the somewhat unusual issue of spaying/neutering of dogs. I don’t think I would go so far as to say ANY of the delegation could be considered "liberal" by the % standards of this card, although I would argue that probably any score 50% to 70% could and probably should toss the legislator into the "moderate" category.
And of course there are some votes that simply matter more than others. I have a hard time giving placing dog neutering issues on the same level as driver’s licenses for illegal aliens. Such bills, like AB 849, which creates gay marriage in spite of Proposition 22 should be weighted. And of course this is one organization’s selection of bills rather than a comprehensive review. But it’s a pretty good selection.
Some legislators who in GOP circles are often savaged as liberal or moderate actually do quite well. Some legislators who in GOP circles are often held-up as rock-ribbed conservates do less well. Richman, for example, surprised me. I would have thought he would have come in lower. Leslie I would have thought would come in higher. Harman, often under fire from my peers in OC, has the same ranking as Cogdill and Ackerman – and all three came in higher than Morrow.
Then take a look at the Democrat delegations. I didn’t type them in this piece for the most part because the vast majority are straight goose eggs. I did list the handful are over 10%. It’s pretty fair to say, and I think it’s actually true, that the probably very few of the Democrats at best could be considered even vaguely moderate by these standards.
Aanestad 100% Campbell 100% McClintock 100% Haynes 100% Huff 100% LaSuer 100% Maze 100% Plescia 100% Strickland 100% Cox 94% Aghazarian 94% Dutton 94% Hollingsworth 94% Margett 94% Devore 94% Keene 94% Mountjoy 94% Nakanishi 94% Villines 94% Walters 94% Wyland 94% Ackerman 89% Ashburn 89% Benoit 89% Bogh 89% Cogdill 89% Harman 89% Houston 89% LaMalfa 89% Spitzer 89% Tran 89% Morrow 83% Poochigian 83% Blakeslee 83% Battin 83% Leslie 83% McCarthy 83% Runner (Sharon) 83% Emmerson 78% Runner 72% (George) Richman 72% Daucher 72% Denham 61% Horton 56% Maldonado 50% Garcia 50%
Arambula 22% Parra 22% Florez 22% Umberg 17% Matthews 17% McLeod 11% Ducheny 11% Baca 11%
I suppose this was a long way of writing some things I learned when I was Assemblyman Wyland and Assemblywoman Horton’s Chief of Staff that I would have never guessed when I was a grassroots activist: it is the unusual GOP legislator who does not vote with the rest of the Republicans on issues big and small most of the time, and it is the unusual legislator who from time to time doesn’t stand against most of the rest of the Republicans on an issue that is important (or that that legislator thinks is important) to his district, and it is the unusual GOP legislator who hasn’t taken or missed at least one vote that will drive the base berserk. Overall, in my opinion, both the Senate and Assembly GOP delegations are more cohesive and the members more similar to one another, than they have been in some time.
More on the 50th Congressional for Monday… interesting activity afoot tonight in the darkest corner of the Imperial House…