Christian Coalition Congressional Ranking Favors GOP, AU Charges.

A new Americans United analysis of the Christian Coalition's recently released "Congressional Scorecard" shows that the document is clearly biased in favor of Republicans, mirroring results from last year.

Americans United charges that the scorecards serve as yet another vehicle for partisan propaganda by TV preacher Pat Robertson's political group.

In the House of Representatives, the average member received a 55.69 score out of a possible 100. In other words, the typical representative voted with the Coalition position almost 56 percent of the time, which is up almost a full three points from the 1997 scorecard. However, despite the group's assurances of impartiality, the average score for Republican House members is over four times higher than their Democratic counterparts. The House GOP average came in at 88.65 while Democrats averaged only 19.27.

Top House GOP leaders Newt Gingrich (Ga.), Dick Armey (Texas) and Tom Delay (Texas) all earned 100 percent rankings. For that matter, the rest of the Republican House leadership team, including Conference Chairman John Boehner (Ohio), Conference Secretary Jennifer Dunn (Wash.), Chief Deputy Whip Dennis Hastert (Ill.) and National Congressional Committee Chairman John Linder (Ga.) also all received perfect 100 percent scores. On the other side of the aisle, Democratic Minority leader Richard Gephardt (Mo.) tallied a 13 and Minority Whip David Bonior (Mich.) got a 14.

Though the U.S. Senate has a reputation for moderation and deliberation, the chasm between Christian Coalition scores for the political parties there was even more dramatic than in the House. On average, GOP scores in the Senate were 12 times higher than Democratic scores, with the average Republican racking up an 83.73 and the average Democrat receiving a 7.06.

Only two Democratic senators posted a score above 25 (Joseph Biden of Delaware, who received a 27, and John Breaux of Louisiana, who earned a 36), while 20 of the 45 Senate Democrats received zeroes. Only one Republican fell below 20 (James Jeffords of Vermont, with a 9), while 18 GOP senators were given a perfect 100 ranking. These numbers closely resemble those of the 1997 Coalition scorecard, where 22 Senate Democrats posted zeroes and 16 Senate Republicans got 100s.

As is the case in the House, approval for the Senate leadership appeared to be closely tied to party affiliation. Republican leaders, including Majority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) and Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles (Okla.), were given 100 scores. Minority Leader Tom Daschle (S.D.) got a 9 and Democratic Committee Chairman John Kerry (Mass.) got a zero.

Of the 143 members of Congress who scored 10 or less, 140 are Democrats, two are Republicans and one is an independent (Rep. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, who got a seven). On the other hand, 185 members received a score of 90 or above, and 182 of them were Republicans. None of the 133 members who got 100 percent scores are Democrats, and none of the 38 zeroes were Republicans.

Overall ratings by state also reflect an unwavering bias on the part of the Christian Coalition. Seven states have delegations of all Republican members: Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, New Hampshire, Idaho and Alaska. In results that are exactly the same as the 1997 scorecard, those same states rank one through seven as having the highest overall Coalition average for per state delegation. Oklahoma finished first, the only state where every member received a 100 percent score. In fact, Oklahoma is the only state in the union to have 100s for every member of the state delegation two years in a row.

In contrast, four states have all Democratic members in their delegations: Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Dakota and West Virginia. To no one's surprise, all those states fared poorly on the Coalition scorecard, with Massachusetts finishing third to last, averaging a score of 8 percent per member, and Hawaii finishing dead last with a 5 percent average.

The Christian Coalition arrives at its slanted results by selecting a small fraction of the votes members of Congress cast each session. These are supposedly "issues critical to the family," but actually they reflect the Coalition's Religious Right agenda.

In the Senate, the scorecard tests members on their support for two measures restricting abortion, a fetal tissue research ban, a ban on human cloning, tax breaks for religious and home schooling costs, education block grants to the states, the balanced budget amendment, defunding of the National Endowment for the Arts, opposition to national testing and the confirmation of Dr. David Satcher for surgeon general. Ironically, the scorecard also included a Senate vote on protecting distribution of voter guides, which was included as an amendment to the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill.

In the House, members were measured on their support for four bills restricting abortion or abortion funding, a prohibition on federal student testing, school vouchers for Washington, D.C., a bill on international religious freedom, an effort to block President Bill Clinton's executive order barring federal employment discrimination against gays, tax breaks for religious and home school costs, tax breaks for "Medical Savings Accounts," a tax limitation constitutional amendment, defunding for the National Endowment for the Arts, two bills on campaign finance reform and opposition to needle exchange programs designed to fight AIDS. Of course, the scorecard also listed votes on Rep. Ernest Istook's (R-Okla.) so-called "Religious Freedom Amendment," a constitutional amendment that would have effectively repealed church-state separation.

The new analysis of the Coalition scorecard was prepared by Steve Benen of the Americans United Communications Department.