Lawmakers not conservative enough, group says

The Utah GOP-dominated Legislature is not conservative enough — a conservative group says.

Are you kidding? Attila the Hun could feel at home there.

But, in fact, according to the GrassRoots conservatives, the Utah House voted "correctly" on a number of touchstone bills only 46 percent of the time in the 2008 Legislature. Senators voted correctly only 48 percent of the time.

Considering that Utahns and their 104 part-time lawmakers are some of the most conservative people in the United States, GrassRoots, which has been issuing a conservative report card on the Legislature for years, clearly has a pretty high "political correctness" bar.

And GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is a sad disappointment, according to GrassRoots.

Judged by his work in the 2008 Legislature, Huntsman gets only a 38 percent approval rating. That compares to his lifetime ranking of 39 percent.

Huntsman spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said Huntsman has a very high approval rating among all Utahns — around 80 percent. "He works on issues for all Utahns," not just one sector of the populace, she said.

GrassRoots is run by former state GOP vice chairman Don Guymon (who is running for the Utah GOP's national committeeman this year), with help from several former Republican legislators. They judged lawmakers and Huntsman by 22 votes in the 2008 Legislature. They also give a "lifetime" ranking — including all the votes the incumbents make since coming into office (assuming GrassRoots was ranking back then).

You can see the bills GrassRoots used as a yardstick and view all 104 legislators' rankings at UtahGrassRoots.org.

The best conservative House member?

Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, a former police officer who is now in the process of building his own private health club. Wimmer voted correctly 86 percent of the time, says GrassRoots.

The second-best conservative in the House is leaving — involuntarily.

Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, was eliminated in last weekend's Utah County Republican Convention. Tilton voted correctly 81 percent of the time, said GrassRoots.

The Senate had a tie for best conservative: Sens. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, and Howard Stephenson, R-Draper; both voted right 74 percent of the time.

There are a few Democratic legislators who are just sad dogs when measured on the conservative meter.