A long-time political activist has reviewed
the voting by Alabama State Senators in the 2004
Alabama Regular Session to determine which Senators were the most and least conservative. The project took several months and resulted in a numerical grade for each of the 35 Senators in the Alabama Legislature.
The numerical grade was on 30 key votes that covered bills to increase fees and taxes, bills of interest to social conservatives, and bills on education issues. The votes on the General Fund budget and the Education Budget were also included.
There are ten Republicans and twenty-five Democrats in the Alabama Senate.
Senator Harri Anne Smith, a Republican from Slocomb in southeast Alabama, received a numerical grade of 87 and was the most conservative State Senator.
Five other Republican Senators --- Hank Erwin, Bradley Byrne, Hap Myers, Jabo Waggoner, and Larry Dixon --- finished in places two through six, respectively.
The highest rated Democrat was Senator Phil Poole of Tuscaloosa in seventh place. Senator Tom Butler, another Democrat, finished in tenth place.
The remaining four Republican Senators finished as follows: Curt Lee in eighth place, Jack Biddle in ninth place, Steve French in eleventh place, and Del Marsh in fourteenth place. Senator Marsh missed 19 of these 30 votes and that adversely affected his numerical grade and relative place.
The lowest score was a 3 and two people tied for the least conservative Senator --- Quinton T. Ross, Jr. of Montgomery and Henry "Hank" Sanders of Selma.
The next six least conservative Senators in order were Rodger Smitherman from Birmingham, Vivian Figures from Mobile, Sundra Escott from Birmingham, Jeff Enfinger from Huntsville, Roger Bedford from Russellville, and Lowell Barron from Fyffe.
Elbert Peters, a long-time political activist from Huntsville, said he undertook the project after observing the way members of the Legislature voted on various bills. Peters said, "As I watched the voting during the last regular session, I could not tell which Senators were the most and least conservative because there was a lack of consistency in their voting. A Senator I thought to be conservative sometimes voted for a tax or fee increase or did not vote conservative on another issue. I finally concluded that the only way I could get a handle on how Senators were voting was to do this project."
One Republican Senator, when told of his numerical grade and place relative to the other 34 Senators responded that "it obviously is a flawed scoring system." This Senator received a grade that indicated he was one of the least conservative Republicans. However, he rated higher than most of the Democrats.
Three cloture votes and one veto override vote were included and a Senator was given credit for not voting on these four items. This was done because 21 YES votes are required for cloture and 18 Yes votes are required to override a governor's veto regardless of the number of Senators voting NO.
Peters said he believed his grading system is sound. "The problem with state government in Alabama is primarily the Legislature and this grading system reports this fact about as clearly as it is possible to do," stated Peters. "A significant majority of Alabama Legislators find it too easy to tax and spend other people's money. The Legislature is much less conservative than the voters in Alabama," he concluded.
The relative place and grade of each of the 35 Senators is shown below. Their party affiliation is indicated by an R for Republican and a D for Democrat.
The bills included in this project are listed below. The number to the right indicates the number of votes on each bill that were included in the grading.
HB42 Teacher Tenure - BIR, cloture, and final passage and NO was the correct vote – 3
HB43 Support Personnel Tenure - BIR, cloture, and final passage and NO was correct vote – 3
HB266 Nursing home bed tax - BIR, Amendment, and final passage and No was correct vote – 3
HB270 General Fund Budget - Final passage and No is correct vote – 1
HB308 Increase court fees - BIR and final passage and No was correct vote – 2
HB370 Increase fees levied by Agriculture and Industries - BIR and final passage and No was correct vote – 2
HB716 Increase taxes on tobacco products - BIR and final passage and No was correct vote – 2
HB815 Increase oil and gas severance tax - BIR and final passage and No was correct vote – 2
HB846 Remove tax exemption on road builders - BIR and final passage and No is correct vote – 2
SB153 Allow display of Ten Commandments in state buildings - Final passage and Yes was correct vote – 1
SB223 Education Budget - Final passage and No was correct vote – 1
SB336 Allow alternative teachings on origin of man - Final passage and Yes was correct vote – 1
SB381 Bingo for Books - BIR, cloture, and final passage and No was correct vote – 3
SB399 Allow alcohol sales at Country Clubs in certain dry counties - BIR, final passage, and override. Correct vote was No – 3
SB433 Ban same sex marriages - Final passage and correct vote was Yes – 1
Total number of votes – 30
Addition Ratings of the Alabama Legislature - Christian Coalition
The Alabama Christian Coalition rated the Alabama Legislature on key votes during 1999 and 2000. To see how a member of the legislature voted and rated in terms of conservative values, see:Ratings of Alabama Legislature
