Political Wings Tilt CaRLC News 01/00

CaRLC News Release

Political Wings Tilt
Date: 1/3/00 12:31:41 AM Pacific Standard Time
Contact: William Westmiller
(805) 493-4332
RLC Liberty Index of 1999 Congress

POLITICAL WINGS TILT

California's Congressional delegation is tilting into new "wings", according to the latest Liberty Index, prepared by the Republican Liberty Caucus. The old "left" and "right" wings of liberals and conservatives were nearly absent in the 1999 votes of federal representatives. Instead, votes compiled by RLC Chairman Cliff Thies indicate a continuing tilt toward the "libertarian" and "authoritarian" axis. The tilt indicates that Republicans are taking a stronger stand in favor of economic and civil liberties (libertarian), while Democrats vote much more frequently for government controls and expansion in all categories (authoritarian).

The Liberty Index is based on forty roll call votes in each house, divided equally on economic and civil liberties. Economic votes involved spending, taxing, regulating, trade policy, the environment, labor and health care, while civil liberties covered campaign finance reform, the war in Kosovo, draft registration, parental choice in education, the 2nd Amendment, tax-financed art, animal rights, and one-world government.

Overall, Republicans are getting more libertarian and Democrats more authoritarian.
Thies says the tilt and gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown steadily over the past two sessions of Congress. The average Republican combined score on economic and civil liberty votes was 78% and average Democrats were at 10%. Among California representatives, the split was less extreme, with Republicans at 68% and Democrats at 22% combined scores. However, several Californians moved further toward the extremes of the freedom axis, away from the middle of the left-right spectrum.

Three California Democrats got "perfect" zero scores on economic issues (Bob
Filner, Tom Lantos and Lucille Royball-Allard), while both California Senators "improved" their "authoritarian" ratings from last year.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, there was a five-way tie for first place, with Ron Paul of Texas, the defending #1, joined by Minority Leader Dick Armey (TX), Peter Hoekstra (MI), Bob Schaffer (CO) and new Pennsylvania Rep. Pat Toomey. Dana Rohrabacher of California, who had been the top-ranked California representative for several years in a row, conceded first place to Rep. John Doolittle (4CD). Wally Herger (2CD) was rated "most libertarian" in last year's Index.
"The more surprising finding," says Thies, "is that fewer and fewer Democrats have problems with violating freedom of speech, whether it is desecrating the flag, speech codes on college campuses, outlawing hate speech, or regulating campaign finance. The idea that Democrats are better than Republicans on personal liberties is simply no longer true."

RLC Liberty Index for ‘99 Congress. California Statistics.

Key Economic and Civil Standing
‘L' libertarian (over 75% on both)
‘E' enterpriser (over 50% on both)
‘X' liberal (under 50% on economic)
‘C' conservative (under 50% on civil)
‘M' moderate (under 50% on both)
‘A' authoritarian (under 25% on both)

Econ Civil Comp ‘98 Comp
Senate 1999
Boxer D 5 16 21 A 24 A
Feinstein D 15 22 37 A 39 A

House 1999
Republicans
04 Doolittle R 91 82 173 L 162 L
45 Rohrabacher R 86 82 168 L 169 L
11 Pombo R 81 87 168 L 149 E
39 Royce R 95 69 164 L 166 L
47 Cox R 91 72 163 L 165 L
19 Radanovich R 81 82 163 L 167 L
27 Rogan R 86 74 160 L 167 L
25 McKeon R 81 78 159 L 147 E
48 Packard R 81 77 158 L 139 E
51 Cunningham R 81 77 158 L 158 L
02 Herger R 85 72 157 L 175 L
41 Miller R 77 78 155 L (123 E Kim)
28 Drier R 77 68 145 E 141 E
43 Calvert R 81 63 144 E 146 E
15 Campbell R 77 65 142 E 127 E
40 Lewis R 72 66 138 E 128 E
52 Hunter R 61 74 135 E 147 E
21 Thomas R 71 63 134 E 141 E
44 Bono R 76 58 132 E 143 E
03 Ose R 77 52 129 E (Fazio-D)
23 Gallegly R 67 60 127 E 129 E
36 Kuykendall R 72 23 95 C (Harman-D)
38 Horn R 63 29 92 C 104 X
49 Bilbray R 69 11 80 C 102 X
24 Republican %: 78 58 68 E
Counts: 12 L 8 L
9 E 13 E
3 C 2 X
Democrats
18 Condit D 43 35 78 M 101 C
20 Dooley D 38 23 61 M 65 M
13 Stark D 28 31 59 M 47 A
07 Miller D 22 35 57 M 51 M
09 Lee D 27 29 56 M 57 M
01 Thompson D 22 29 51 M (Riggs-R)
16 Lofgren D 23 26 49 A 40 A
06 Woolsey D 11 35 46 A 44 A
05 Matsui D 16 29 45 A 38 A
14 Eshoo D 22 23 45 A 35 A
10 Tauscher D 27 17 44 A (Pombo-R)
46 Sanchez D 32 12 44 A 41 A
08 Pelosi D 12 31 43 A 51 M
30 Becerra D 17 26 43 A 37 A
26 Berman D 24 18 42 A 40 A
29 Waxman D 18 23 41 A 40 A
34 Napolitano D 17 24 41 A (Torres)
35 Waters D 6 35 41 A 34 A
17 Farr D 11 29 40 A 39 A
24 Sherman D 27 12 39 A 38 A
22 Capps D 19 19 38 A 44 A
31 Martinez D 11 24 35 A 67 M
32 Dixon D 11 24 35 A 47 A
37 Millendr-McDo D 11 24 35 A 30 A
33 Roybal-Allrd D 0 29 29 A 29 A
50 Filner D 0 29 29 A 50 A
12 Lantos D 0 17 17 A 35 A
42 Vacant (Brown)
27 Democrat %: 18 26 22
Counts: 6 M 5 M
21 A 19 A
1 C