The
Democratic Party often promotes itself as the party of "working
people." The boldness of the Party's accomplishments is
debatable, but by the yardstick of the Connecticut
AFL-CIO's
legislative scorecard, Democrats clearly come out
ahead. In 2007-2008, Dems scored, on average, 94% in the
House
and 84% in the Senate. Republicans, in contrast,
scored 32% in
the House and 40% in the Senate.
Labor either had an modest agenda or two very good years in
the House, because most
Democrats there had 100% records, producing a list too long to
acknowledge. In the Senate, however, only one
Democrat in office for the whole two-year period, Ed Gomes, had a
perfect voting record. (All others voted against an ethics
reform
bill, but most scored high otherwise.)
Every Republican in the
state scored below 60%. The worst of the worst -- those with
scores under 25% -- along with a list of their current Democratic
challengers, are:
Legislators
who were not in office for the entire period or who are not running for
office in 2008 are not included above. Notably, new
Republican
Senators Rob Kane & Rob Russo each scored at 20% in
their
first session.
Craig Miner
and John
Piscopo, the most
right-wing legislator in the state, had the worst labor
records in 2007-08, scoring perfect zeros. They
also have among the worst lifetime records.
Democrats
Several Democrats currently running for re-election scored below 75%:
Worst Democrats
Score 07-08
Rep. Terry Backer
71%
Rep. Jeffrey Berger
67%
Rep. Shawn Johnston
17%
Rep. Tom Kehoe
67%
Sen. Eileen Daily
71%
Sen. Paul Doyle
71%
Sen. Joan Hartley
57%
Sen. Andrew Maynard
67%
Sen. Gayle Slossberg
71%
As he has on numerous other scorecards, Rep.
Shawn Johnston
(Killingly, Putnam & Thompson) ranks as the worst Democrat in
the
House, scoring lower than nearly all Republicans on worker issues.
He is now the House Democrat with
the worst lifetime labor record. He edged out House Speaker
and Gubernatorial candidate Jim Amann, who
had previously held
that distinction. (Amann's relatively poor record
did not prevent the Iron Workers leadership from endorsing
and praising him.)
Johnston is guaranteed re-election this year, as he was
cross-endorsed by local Republicans, who recognize an ally when they
see one.
Sen.
Paul Doyle (Cromwell, Middletown, Newington, Rocky Hill
& Wethersfield) has the worst lifetime labor record of any
Democrat, at 50%.
Issues
Among labor's legislative wins:
Minimum wage hike
Funding for teacher's retirement fund
Establishment of clean contracting standards board
Expansion of state employee health care pool to small
businesses and nonprofits
Labor losses (only passed one house)
Paid sick leave
Assessment of costs and benefits of state contracts outside
CT or the U.S.
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