In an article written after the August 1 primary election, Lawrence Journal-World reporter Scott Rothschild wrote that incumbent 3rd District Congressman Dennis Moore “is viewed as a moderate to conservative Democrat.”
Each year the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), “America's oldest independent liberal lobbying organization,” ranks members of Congress and assigns each member a Liberal Quotient (LQ). ADA considers scores from 40-60 as “moderate” ratings. ADA has never assigned Moore a rating within that range.
Moore has been in the House since 1999. During that year, ADA declared Moore a “House Hero” after the organization assigned him a perfect LQ of 100. Meanwhile, the overall average LQ for Democratic House members that year was 88. In fact, Moore’s LQ has been higher than the overall average LQ for Democratic House members in four of the seven years ADA has rated his votes.
Moore’s average LQ for the seven years ADA has rated his votes is 85. The overall average for all Democratic House members during those seven years is 85.7. Does anyone view the average House Democrat as “moderate to conservative”?
The Journal-World will have many more articles concerning Rep. Moore between now and the general election in November. If labels must be used, shouldn’t Moore be characterized as a “liberal Democrat”? After all, the Journal-World notes that its goal is to “provide fair, accurate and honest information to the community.”
