Cleveland Plain Dealer: Flaky Liberal...

Flaky liberal? Wing-nut conservative? Here's proof on your Congress members
By Stephen Koff, The Plain Dealer
February 26, 2010, 2:19PM

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Between now and the November elections, you'll hear talk
about how absurdly liberal or insanely conservative certain members of
Congress are. Actually, since you're on this Web site, you've probably heard
that talk already.

So it's time for some truth, which we get courtesy of National Journal, the
down-the-middle, fiercely nonpartisan magazine that covers policy and
wonkery in Washington. Today, the magazine put out its latest rankings,
based on a series of key economic, social policy and foreign policy votes in
both houses of Congress. The results?

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, takes more liberal positions than 88 percent
of all senators. That puts him in a first-place tie for most liberal senator
with Sheldon Whitehouse (Rhode Island), Jack Reed (Rhode Island), Ben Cardin
(Maryland) and Roland Burris (Illinois).

Sen. George Voinovich, a Republican, votes more conservatively than 62
percent of all senators. But since more than half of the senators are
Democrats, that actually makes Voinovich a certifiable moderate -- or target
for RINO attacks, though that doesn't matter since he's not running again.
Only three Senate Republicans -- Susan Collins (Maine), Richard Lugar
(Indiana) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) -- take less conservative stances than
Voinovich.

In the House, Ohio's delegation turns up with a few surprises, such as
Dennis Kucinich's middle-of-the-field ranking on the liberal scale.
One-hundred-and-fifty-nine House Democrats take more liberal votes than
Kucinich. You can take that as proof that conventional wisdom has its
exceptions, but it really means that ranking politicians based on a voting
record is an imperfect exercise.

Kucinich has proudly strong liberal principles. But voting in Congress means
bending those principles at times, or else voting against your own party
because a bill is flawed. Look no further than the health care bill to see
why Kucinich's vote could be mistaken -- badly so -- as a sign of
conservatism.


There's no such confusion over Ohio's John Boehner, however. He's the 14th
most conservative member of the House.

Other highlights:

* Steve LaTourette's ranking of 169 among Republicans makes him the least
conservative of all Ohio Republicans in the U.S. House, by this measure.

* John Boccieri, Zack Space and Steve Driehaus -- three Democrats whom
Republicans target with attacks relentlessly -- are voting safely, with
rankings that keep them from extremes. The first two are tied in 224th place
on the liberal scale, while Driehaus comes in at 190th.

* But Mary Jo Kilroy? She not so moderate.

Kilroy is no Gwen Moore or Henry Waxman -- Democrats from Wisconsin and
California, respectively, who are among those tied for most liberal based on
their voting records. She's not even a Marcia Fudge (12th most liberal in
the House, in a tie with Barney Frank of Massachusetts) or Betty Sutton
(35th).

But Kilroy's 60th place liberal ranking could easily lead to GOP claims that
Kilroy, now in a tough reelection fight, is more liberal than proud liberals
like Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur (in 171st place on the liberal scale).