WSLC ratings for 2006!

Kick. Ass. Aside from election nights complete with constant refreshing of result pages, filtering through brand new interest group ratings is the awesomest time of the political year. As usual, the Washington State Labor Council was first in issuing their yearly figures for the upper and lower houses of our legislature. First, the Senate:

Unlike most years, apparently bills introduced in the short session important to organized labor were not as controversial. This is because general bottom-dwellers like Val Stevens and Bob Morton scored seemingly high. However, when compared to other members, they are as labor-unfriendly as usual. Twenty two of twenty six in the Senate Democratic Caucus scored 100%, below are those who did not and the high and low-scoring Republicans.

Low Democrats:
Tim Sheldon - 50
Jim Hargrove - 91
Mary Margaret Haugen - 92
Ken Jacobsen - 92

High Republicans:
Pam Roach - 75
Bob Oke - 71
Don Benton - 67
Dave Schmidt - 64
Bob McCaslin - 63

Low Republicans:
Jim Honeyford - 20
Mike Hewitt - 33
Bob Morton - 33
Joyce Mulliken - 33
Mark Schoesler - 33

In the House was a similar case of no-brainer bills leading the entire House Democratic Caucus to score 100 with the sole exception of Rep. Mary Helen Roberts, who voted against one bill and scored 92 (and counting Rodney Tom as a Republican for the session). For Republicans, just as in the Senate, many scored higher than ever before, which in campaign materials is probably not what they wanted. Ten House Republicans tied for the lowest score at 33. The highs:

High Republicans:
Tom Campbell - 83
Fred Jarrett - 83
Shirley Hankins - 75
Skip Priest - 75
Rodney Tom - 75
Maureen Walsh - 75