Critics agree: 4 Utahns in D.C. are quite 'right'

WASHINGTON — The nation's most liberal and conservative groups, ranging from the Christian Coalition to National Abortion Rights Action League, rarely manage to agree. But they do when they describe Utah's congressional delegation.

Deseret Morning News graphicCongressional rankingRequires Adobe Acrobat.

Their voting report cards agree that Utah's four Republicans are among the most conservative conservatives in Congress. They also agree that Utah's lone Democrat, Rep. Jim Matheson, is a true moderate, neither conservative nor liberal.

Beyond that, however, everyone argues whether such records are good or bad, and whether lawmakers are more effective if they operate from the middle or an ideological wing.

And, interestingly, even though conservatives give Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, high marks for votes cast, some attack his leadership as being too liberal-friendly.

The Deseret Morning News collected voting report card scores for 2003 from 20 special-interest groups, 10 that lean conservative and 10 that lean liberal. (See accompanying chart.) Most rank congressional voting records from zero to 100. The higher the score, the more each group likes the votes cast by a member last year.

Utah's Republicans, Hatch, Sen. Bob Bennett and Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop, combined for an average score of 94 of 100 from conservative groups. Liberals gave them an almost exactly opposite average score of 5 out of 100. That means they agree the four are among the most conservative members of Congress.

Meanwhile, liberal groups gave Matheson an average score of 66, essentially giving him a "D" from their viewpoint. And conservative groups gave him an average score of 50, tantamount to an "F" for being dead-center in the political spectrum.

"The (four) Republicans are solidly at the most conservative edge," said Don Kusler, communications director for the liberal Americans for Democratic Action. "Matheson is just sort of middle-of-the-road as far as a Democrat goes. He has a lifetime average with us of 73, and the average for Democrats is around 85, so he is on the conservative side."

Richard Lessner, executive director of the right-wing American Conservative Union, said, "The Republicans in the delegation are all conservative." Matheson is "middle of the road," which he dislikes.