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Sources of Voting Records
Last verified May 10, 2007
ACLU's National Freedom Scorecard http://scorecard.aclu.org
contact action@dcaclu.org
Summary of important civil liberties measures and how your elected officials have voted.
California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) The California Environmental Scorecard www.ecovote.org
Comprehensive US Sustainable Population (CUSP) Congressional Scorecard
www.uscongress-enviroscore.org
Humane USA PAC
Summary of votes to protect and provide humane treatment of animals. Like Emily's List they choose a certain number of races to support candidates who support legislation against cruelty to animals.
www.humaneusa.org
League of Conservation Voters (LCV) – range of national environmental legislation
www.lcv.org
MyGov a service of AOL
Welcome to MyGov! In order to better provide you with information and services, our resources for Government Services are currently under construction. In the meantime, we encourage you to use the MyGov sites and services, where you have easy access to all the information you need about Federal and State Agencies . You can create your own custom email alerts for your state representatives here as well.
www3.capwiz.com/mygov/home
National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)
www.npca.org/votingrecords
Friend of the National Parks award - Award is based solely on a member's voting record on legislation significant to the national parks.
Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte
Women's issues local govt candidates
Gayle M. Tiller 408 297-9255 ext. 17
Santa Clara and San Benito Counties
reproductiverightssj@yahoo.com
Population Connection (formerly ZPG)
“Not Making The Grade”
http://causenet.commoncause.org/afr/dbq/officials
http://www.commoncause.org/publications/ereform/toc.htm state-by-state grades
http://www.commoncause.org/publications/ereform/summary.htm
ProgressivePunch
http://www.voterpunch.org/
Non-partisan searchable database of Congressional voting records from a Progressive perspective. Shows the performance of members within 125 different issue categories and detailed vote descriptions.
Sierra Club
Sierra Club California
Environmental Voting Records of the California Congressional Delegation and Presidential Candidates, 2004
www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/CongEnvVoteRec.html
Stuart H. Hurlbert and Joan S. Dainer
Department of Biology and Center for Inland Waters
San Diego State University
National Caucus of Environmental Legislators - NCEL
An organization of progressive, environmental state legislators that communicate their strategies to enact good legislation.
1920 L St., NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20036
Telephone: 202-454-4588
Fax: 202-835-0491
Adam Schafer - adam@ncel.net
www.ncel.net/
Washington Post's US Congress Votes Database
This site, washingtonpost.com's U.S. Congress Votes Database, is a deep database of every vote in the United States Congress since the 102nd Congress (1991). It lets you browse votes in a variety of ways -- both in aggregate and for individual members of Congress. Browse the database by drilling down to a particular Congress (e.g. 109th Congress ) or particular member (e.g. 109th Congress senators ). This site also publishes an RSS feed of recent votes by each member of Congress, and a feed of the most recent votes in both chambers. See the RSS page for full details. The site is generally updated every day, although there is a delay between a vote in Congress and its appearance on the official Congress Web sites. http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/
Methodology
The data for washingtonpost.com's U.S. Congress Votes Database is taken directly from several official Internet sources:
Credits
This site was created by Adrian Holovaty of washingtonpost.com and Derek Willis of The Post. Contact them at adrian.holovaty at wpni dot com and willis at washpost.com.
Brian Cordyack designed the site. Contact him at brian.cordyack at wpni.com.
© document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) 2006 The Washington Post Company
National Institute on Money in State Politics
An independent source of information on campaign contributions in state politics for reporters, researchers and the general public
http://207.202.129.97
"Resources for Democracy"
http://bozeman.bigsky.net/drusha
You can't tell a politician without a score card Special interest groups' ratings carry some clout
By Mike Sprague Staff Writer Whittier Daily News
mike.sprague@sgvn.com
(562) 698-0955, Ext. 3022
Assemblywoman Judy Chu loves to point out her 100 percent rating on women, children and seniors. Assemblyman Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, is equally proud of a similar rating from four business groups. What both are talking about are score cards put out by interest groups - from the California Chamber of Commerce to the Sierra Club - that rank legislators on their votes.
While the public doesn't always see these ratings, they often are used in election campaigns by the candidates or opponents, said Barbara Stone, professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton.
"I don't think any Republican can risk a bad rating from the California Taxpayers Association," Stone said. "There are a number of Democrats in the tree-hugging north who better not come up with a bad one from the Sierra Club."
Officials from the special interest groups that put out the ratings say they do it to try to influence legislators.
"We basically want to send a message to the Capitol that members will be held accountable for their votes," said Ron Roach, director of communications for the California Taxpayers Association.
"We're going to publicize their pro-taxpayer or anti-taxpayer bent whatever it is."
Coming up with the score card can take all year. The Congress of California Seniors has a committee that follows legislation and then selects key bills for its score card, said Gary Passmore, its director. "We have a committee of volunteers who meet every month throughout the year to develop a list of priorities," Passmore said. "Near the end of the legislative session, we refine our list and try to keep it to a manageable number."
The group chose 12 bills on which to rate the legislators. Legislators say their votes aren't affected by the rankings.
"I don't know that it has an affect on me," Huff said. "When I go through the year voting, I'm not thinking of how it's going to rate. I vote on the best policies."
Still, Huff, like others, is happy to point out the groups that gave him good ratings.
"I wear those as a badge of honor," he said of his 100 percent ratings from four business groups.
State Sen. Bob Margett, R-Glendora, said the ratings can be unfair.
"I don't know that they tell a complete story," he said.
"I don't know that I rank high with the Sierra Club but I do a lot of environmental stuff in my district," Margett said. "I'm trying to preserve the corridor in the Puente Hills and provide a sanctuary in the San Gabriel Mountains."
Assemblyman Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, said the numbers also can be misleading because all it takes is one or two votes to change them. "I'm not as conservative as people think," said Calderon, who had scores of 50 from the California Taxpayers Association, Chamber of Commerce and Sierra Club.
Chu, D-Monterey Park, also likes her positive ratings and doesn't like her negative ratings, but concedes
they can be meaningful. "It tells your constituents in shorthand what you're all about," she said. "There are many people who respect the Congress of California Seniors and Sierra Club and I have a 100 percent lifetime voting record." The groups also believe their names resonate with the public.
"Our organization has a prominent name," said Jodi Hicks, legislative director for California National Organization for Women. "(The rating) is an easy check to see who voted for and against women's issues." Margett's Sierra Club ranking is 0.)
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