True blue or really red? Utah lawmakers rated

Republicans are red. Democrats are blue. At the extreme of each color, who shows the brightest hue?

In the Utah Legislature, Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, is the reddest red. And Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake, is the bluest blue.

That's according to report cards issued by special-interest groups this year, as combined and analyzed by the Deseret News to identify the most conservative conservatives and the most liberal liberals.

Dayton said being ranked as the most conservative legislator may cause "some of my legislative colleagues to be envious. I guess in politics you can't hide from who you are," even though she did not run for office to stand out that way.

Riesen, a former TV newsman, said, "I'm proud to be the most Democratic member of the Utah House." His upscale Millcreek/Holladay district is progressive, "and I vote like my constituents want."

While conservative and liberal groups usually agree on little, they do roughly concur about where individual legislators fall along the political spectrum.

The Deseret News discovered that by studying report cards from four special interest groups that rated Utah legislators for votes cast in the 2008 Legislature (the only such report cards the newspaper could find). The groups give better scores to lawmakers who vote with them most often on what the groups consider to be key votes.

Two were conservative groups that gave the lion's share of their better scores to Republicans: GrassRoots (a constitutional watchdog group) and the Utah Taxpayers Association, a business-funded low-tax group. Two were liberal-leaning groups that give most of their best scores to Democrats: the Utah Education Association (a teachers union) and the environmentalist Sierra Club.

The Deseret News standardized and averaged the groups' ratings, so that the higher scores on a scale from 0 to 100 would show who is a deeper red Republican, and the lower scores on the scale would show who is a bluer Democrat.

On the deepest crimson red portion of the spectrum was Dayton with a score of 84.7, followed by Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, 83; Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, 82.8; Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, 82; and Rep. Aaron Tilton (defeated in convention), R-Springville, 80.7. (A chart showing how each legislator is rated can be found at the graphic link above right, labeled "Reddest red, bluest blue.")

Among the most royal blue was Riesen with a score of 15.18. He edged out by the narrowest of margins Reps. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, and Carol Moss, D-Holladay, who both had scores of 15.23. Retiring Rep. Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, scored 15.43 and Rep. Janice Fisher, D-West Valley, scored 16.43.