From The San Diego Union-Tribune, about the CrowdPAC algorithm — based on voting records, speeches and campaign contributions — to determine the relative conservatism or liberalism of various politicos…
Who is San Diego’s most conservative politician?
Jerry Kern? OK, we’ll let you weigh in on that, as well as the others.
Who is San Diego’s most liberal politician?
Mara Elliott? The “voting record” part of the algorithm kind of falls apart there, as it does with several other non-office holders on both lists.
Discuss. Please.
Comments 10
Asm. Shirley Weber….
Suggest clicking on the links and taking a look at the listings.
Weber is ranked 7 on the Liberal List.
Wrong or right? Why?
Lauryn Schroeder???
How are we defining “conservative”? One who conserves the status quo or one who conserves our great ideas? If it is the latter I ask that we consider three.
Vista City Councilwoman Amanda Rigby.
When local used car dealers attempted to use the city government to eliminate their competition Vista City Councilwoman Amanda Rigby took a stand on behalf of her constituents and free markets. She opposed them and unfortunately was out voted 4-1. Her Rostra post reads like a Hayekian essay.
http://sdrostra.com/?p=37488
El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells
When the El Cajon City Council voted 3-1 to send a letter asking the state assembly to support Senate Bill 151, raising the minimum legal age for buying tobacco products from 18 to 21 Mayor Wells stood his ground on principle. “Conservative” Council members cited health concerns and the need for government to protect 18, 19 and 20 year olds from their poor decisions. Mayor Wells responded with, “The far left is coming in and taking away our freedoms, one at a time,” the Mayor maintained. “These are the same arguments the far left is doing about firearms.” “Shall we allow our sons to fight for our country but not allow them to purchase tobacco?”
http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/smoking-hot-debate-el-cajon-council-votes-support-raising-age-tobacco-use
Sen. Joel Anderson
In his floor speech on March 28th, 2014 Joel Anderson was the only Senator among twelve Republicans willing to stand and challenge the Democrat controlled Senate for their flagrant violation of rule of law. Three Democrat Senators had been indicted and convicted of multiple felonies. The State Constitution required expulsion. Senator Anderson was the only one take floor and ask that the Constitution be upheld.
What I think should be noted here is each of these individuals was not only standing on Republican principle, but doing so alone.
Pshaw.
No mention of Solana Beach Council Member Ginger Marshall? Her consistent voting record makes Ron Paul look like a RINO-compromiser
Gitsham is pro-life; Atkinson is pro-choice. That doesn’t make Atkinson horrible but it certainly should knock her down on the conservative scale, far below Gitsham
Abed is not only in the top 25, he’s number 2? The author of the article knows nothing about the Escondido Country Club and Abed’s support for centralized planning.
The article should read, “San Diego Liberals’ opinion of what they think conservative politicians are”
They got one thing right– Kern is more conservative than I originally thought.
I think that any of us who knows the records of any of these people would seriously question the methodology. I tried looking at the description of the algorithm and found it lacking. After all, how can you honestly compare (on the same scale) a candidate with a decade in office with one who has never run before?
Let’s dig into the obvious. CrowdPac’s website notes the featured races in San Diego, which sheds some light on the limited focus of the measurement:
https://www.crowdpac.com/blog/san-diego-2016-featured-races
Out of about 100 city council members and mayors in San Diego County, the two lists — liberal and conservative — include EVERY member of the San Diego City Council and Mayor Faulconer.
Aside from that city, the only other city council members or mayors listed happen to be four running for higher office — Kristin Gaspar, Randy Voepel, Sam Abed and Jerry Kern.
That’s why no other city incumbents are included, such as Ginger Marshall, Bill Wells, Amanda Rigby, Richard Bailey, Steve Vaus, Kristine Alessio, John McCann and many others.
Out of 47 total names on the two lists, 17 have never held office, but they ARE running in a “featured” race. No voting record, but CrowdPac can tell all about them based on their donors and speeches. Seriously?
This isn’t a philosophical rating of all politicians in the county, it’s a weak attempt at measuring only a few local ones — those in the City of San Diego and those running for higher office next year.
La Mesa councilwoman Kristine Alessio is second to none. It is she, and not the hopelessly compromised Joel Anderson, who should replace Dianne Jacob at the County when that day finally comes.
What this “survey” achieved was to place CrowdPAC in the media’s minds as the “go to” source to judge the political philosophies of candidates. Naturally they love such simplistic comparisons — validity notwithstanding. I’m sure there is a more flawed methodology possible than the one CrowePAC employed, but I can’t offhand envision what it would be.
This study is “junk (political) science” taken to a new level. In the wrong direction. Yet I predict the media will continue to reference CrowdPAC as a reputable source to gauge candidates’ political leanings.
I never in my wildest dreams thought I would agree 100% with Richard Rider…. I agree with him completely. The “survey” is NOT something to be taken seriously by anyone with five minutes to review some of the names and records. Methodology? Dart Board at 26 paces, throwers blindfolded and darts not weighted?