The Montana Chamber of Commerce released its report card from the 2009 Legislature, rating how lawmakers voted on various business issues. Unsurprisingly, most of the Flathead’s conservative Republican senators and representatives scored quite high.
In my experience, I’ve found that legislators tend to be irritated by these types of ratings, whether they come from business groups or conservation groups, primarily because they tend to over simplify how lawmakers vote on one bill or another, and often fail to take into account the complexity of certain parliamentary procedures. While that may sound like an excuse, it isn’t.
Legislators don’t just vote bills up or down. They vote in committee on whether to remove a bill from the table; they vote on the floor on so-called “blast motions” to free up a bill stalled in committee; they vote on amendments to bills; they vote on second and third readings of bills – and sometimes vote differently between the two readings depending on political considerations or other circumstances.
A lawmaker may vote against a bill he or she believes to be good for business, because an even stronger bill is working its way through committee. But then when that stronger bill dies, that lawmaker than has an anti-business vote on their voting record – which then comes back to bite them when they run for reelection and their opponents cite these report cards issued by interest groups. The same holds true for any issue. See what I mean?
With that said, the interest groups that issue these report cards work extremely hard to take such complexities into account. For a full explanation of how the Montana Chamber arrived at these ratings, visit their Web site and the full report here.
Here’s a quick wrap of how Northwest Montana lawmakers rated:
Rep. Bill Beck, R-Whitefish: 100%
Rep. Gerald Bennett, R-Libby: 73%
Rep. Mark Blasdel, R-Somers: 96%
Rep. Dee Brown, R-Hungry Horse: 98%
Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish: 20%
Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell: 98%
Rep. Scott Reichner, R-Bigfork: 96%
Rep. Jon Sonju, R-Kalispell: 98%
Rep. Cheryl Steenson, R-Kalispell: 65%
Rep. Janna Taylor, R-Dayton: 96%
Rep. Chas Vincent, R-Libby: 100%
Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell: 100%
Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson: 89%
Sen. Aubyn Curtiss, R-Fortine: 93%
Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell: 100%
Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell: 100%
Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish: 92%