Each year the AFL-CIO releases ratings of the voting records of senators and House members that purport to show how friendly each is to union interests. A member’s rating (from 0 to a perfect 100) is based on the dozen or so votes the AFL-CIO considers most important to unions. The 1995 ratings, released a couple of weeks ago, have some “union-friendly” GOP members upset at what they believe is the federation’s deliberate attempt to pick votes that have almost nothing to do with traditional labor issues, as part of new president John Sweeney’s emphasis on defeating as many Republicans as possible in November.
Congressional Quarterly reported that 7 of the 12 votes used in the 1995 rating involved issues such as tax cuts, the balanced budget amendment, and Medicare. With such votes included, several Republicans who had career scores of over 50 saw their 1995 ratings tumble from the year before. In the House, Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida fell from 78 to 8, and Sherwood Boehlert of New York from 67 to 33. In the Senate, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado fell from 88 to 22, Richard Shelby of Alabama from 83 to 0, and Oregon’s Mark Hatfield from 63 to 17.
If this trend continues, next year’s ratings may be based on the traditional labor issues of capital gains indexation, welfare reform, and abortion.
