How Progressive is Your Senator?

You can find out just how progressive your senators and your congressional representative are at Progressive Punch. Not only that, you can look at each member's voting record divided into key subject areas such as Housing, War & Peace, Heath Care under which all legislative action is listed along with your representative's vote compared with the Progressive vote.

How do they determine what is the Progressive vote, I asked myself and found their answer under a link to the page What is a Progressive Score? Essentially, they have developed an algorithm based upon key votes :

The algorithm that we've used to come up with these progressive scores is that we take ANY VOTE in which a majority of those progressives--so in the House say, if there were no absences, it would be 20 of the 39--voted in contradistinction to a majority of the Republican caucus then that vote then qualifies for the database. The same process is used in the Senate.

So how did my senators and representative figure on the progressive scale? With a Progressive Score across all issues of 94.81 Betty Sutton holds down postion 19 out of 433! Excellent way to jump in and represent us, Betty!

Incidentally, the house member with the lowest progressive score (a measly .81%) and dead last at 433 is a conservative representing Ohio's 4th District, Jim Jordan. Jim was named Pro-Life legislator of the year, according to his web site. Look at his voting record here and see how much he really cares about American families.

Next up, Senator Brown! I am happy to report that Sherrod is Number 5 in the US Senate with a progressive score of 96.41. He's higher than Ted Kennedy! The 4 senators with higher progressive scores are: Sidney Whitehouse (97.62), Benjamin Cardin (97.60), Bob Casey (97.02) and Jack Reed (96.61). Rhode Island must be the most progressive state in the country with two senators in the top four.

Senator Clinton comes in at a respectable 14th place with Barack Obama hard on her heels at 15. Senator Voinovich shows up in 58th place which sounds more middle of the roadish than bereft of common decency, however his progressive score is only 14.50. That means, that everybody from 59th place on is below 14.5! In fact, there are 34 senators with progressive scores lower than 10.0. The man on the bottom, truly representing the No Interest in Progress caucus, is John Barrasso from WY who has a score of 0. True, he has only been in office since June, but with his pro-life, anti-gay and let's all pray in school agenda he is sure to give John Cornyn (score 2.76/99th out of 100) a run for his money over the long term.

You will want to bookmark Progressive Punch, not just for the fun of checking out scores, but also because it is the one place I have found where you can actually track your duly elected officials voting records on specific bills.

Summit County Progressive Democrats

Last summer, upon volunteering for Sherrod Brown's campaign, I began hearing about a group called the Summit County Progressive Democrats. Nobody came up to me and gave me a spiel and loaded me up with pamphlets worthy of the Jehovah's Witnesses, so I took that as an initial sign that this group might be of interest. Groups that indulge in massive self-aggrandizement turn me off every time.

I picked up another clue as to what this group is all about at a campaign event where I was assigned to blowing up balloons with another worker, an older lady who introduced herself and then immediately asked me if I was "one of those Summit County progressives." I told her I wasn't, and she said with a firm nod and smile, "Good!" "Aha!" I thought to myself, Summit County Progressives are not beloved by the mainstream." I took this to be a positive sign and thought I should check further into the group.

By the time the fall election was over, I knew a little bit more about SCPD, including the fact that they meet every 2nd Tuesday of the month at the Main Library downtown. I made note of that and determined to attend a meeting. But the school year, with all its demands of time and energy, made it impossible to get there until this month.

I didn't really know what to expect, perhaps a handful of folks left-over from the fall's election looking far far ahead to '08. Instead I found a room full of warm and vibrant people, well-organized with an interesting agenda of timed segments addressing several issues. One member presented a summary of his paper on what is the difference between a "liberal" and a "progressive" which is something I hadn't really considered too closely before, other than "progressive" sounds cooler and has an air of sleeves rolled up and action being taken. For those who are interested in the historical background of progressives, check the issues page of the SCPD web site. There are other interesting papers there as well. I like the idea of an organisation that encourages its members to write issue papers.

A woman from the Friends of the Crooked River gave a Power Point presentation on their progress fighting the proposed hydro-electric plant on the river in the Falls. I was glad to see an environmental issue put forth on the SCPD agenda, and indeed the environment is included in their mission statement:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Summit County Progressive Democrats (SCPD) is to create a more just society by advocating issues and candidates who advance progressive ideals, where people can work together to articulate domestic and foreign policies that support human rights, equal economic opportunity, social justice and environmental stewardship. We work to expand grassroots participation in the political process and to return the government of this nation to the will of the people.

I'm considering joining the group, even though I know I can't contribute as much time as other people. At least I have the summer months, which proved useful in last year's election. I can parade and I can pass out stickers and campaign materials.