Ideology and Voting (Post #5)

Given the environmentalist background of Senator Rockefeller (D-WV), his strong support of nationalized health, and his leadership position within the Democratic party one could anticipate a rather liberal agenda coming out of the Senator's camp. Coupling this with the fact that he is no longer facing reelection, theorist like Mayhew would predict that Rockefeller's voting behaviors would move even further into party positioning as the Senator would be less inclined to listen to the growing Republican voice in West Virginia and more inclined to vote as a trustee of the constituent voice (as he sees fit). 

 How liberal can a Rockefeller really be? Turns out pretty liberal.

If we look at the Senator's DW-NOMINATE scores for the 110th, 111th, and 112th Congresses (prior to the last election, facing the last election, and now after the last election), we find that his voting behavior did in fact move more to the center upon facing reelection and has now again moved towards more liberal choices with his votes. Comparing Senator Rockefeller against his fellow members, the scores show that he ranked 26th most liberal member in the senate in the 110th, moved down to 32rd during his election year, and again moved back up to 26th in the 112th. 

Beyond being generally liberal, Rockefeller largely follows party voting behavior, but his party unity vote has consistently dropped over the last four Congresses. Choosing to follow the party position on 98% of votes in the 110th Congress, 97% in the 111th Congress, and 96% in the 112th, his record now stands at 94%  in line with the Democratic position for the 113th (Washington Post). This may have indicated a desire to appease Republican voters in his district during the last election cycle, but it doesn't follow that his percentage would continue to drop even after reelection and despite retirement. Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that he no longer requires party support for campaigning.


Although he is known to willingly criticize the President on issues, according to the Congressional Quarterly Press Senator Rockefeller voted in agreement with the President Obama's position 96% of the time in 2011 and 99% of the time in 2012. Perhaps the relatively low 2011 number has to do with the widespread unpopularity of the President in West Virginia while the Senator faced reelection (Mayhew may have something here).

In addition to largely voting in line with his Party and the President, Rockefeller is considered an ADA "Hero" voting in line with their position 100% of the time. And generally supports left leaning interest groups (Planned Parenthood, Citizens for Tax Justice, ACLU,  Affirmative Action and Education Interests groups) while being largely unsupportive of conservative interest groups. Project Vote Smart (a non-profit, non-partisan research organization) compiles the percentage of votes members of Congress make that are in line with certain interest groups. Senator Rockefeller's can be viewed here.

Senator Rockefeller is known to have crossed the line on a number of industrial and small business issues that are in the interest of West Virginia's mining economy as well as education and veterans initiatives. According to the Congressional Quarterly, Jay Rockefeller was even one of the top 10 Democratic Supporters of President Bush in 2008 (a statistic he was unable to claim in support of President Obama until after his declared retirement). I guess in the end a Rockefeller can't be 100% liberal.

*From the Congressional Quarterly's Presidential Support 2008 Report

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20121231-03prezsupport-cht8.pdf

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20120116-02prezsupport-cht8.pdf

http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/file.php?path=/files/wr20110103-01prezsupport-cht4.pdf

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/R000361 

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/senate/members/

http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/53360/jay-rockefeller-iv

http://www.voteview.com 

http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/issues 

Committee Assignments (Post #4)

From the beginning of his congressional career in 1984, Senator Jay Rockefeller has served on the Senate Intelligence Committee where he resided as Chairman from 2004 until his retirement in January of 2009. During his stint as Chairman, Senator Rockefeller had a reputation of being highly condemning of the War on Terror especially the campaign in Iraq. His personal senate website reflects this stating that he is “critical of the nation's mismanagement of the Iraq war, and continues to press the United States to refocus its mission and resources on al Qaida and global terrorism.” 

With a name like Rockefeller, it seems ironic that he is critical of a war that is dripping in oil, but perhaps he redeemed himself in great grandpa’s eyes as he actually voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq in October of 2002 (From Washington Post database). However, his opinion seems to have changed after a number of trips to the Middle East. In an interview with Fox News upon his return he states, “We are called the Senate Intelligence Committee. We get a lot more than the rest of the Senate, but it was incomplete as to what the president gets, and it was obviously entirely wrong, which raises the question of why was it wrong… I took a trip by myself in January of 2002 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria, and I told each of the heads of state that it was my view that George Bush had already made up his mind to go to war against Iraq, that that was a predetermined set course which had taken shape shortly after 9/11” (source).

Though he makes his point, I can’t help but find satirical musings in the fact that the current head of a family who made their fortune in oil (and ruthless business deals) would be campaigning for friendship/confidence with the leaders from some of the world’s largest oil producing countries using an “America was in it for business reasons” platform. 

In the end, Rockefeller was successful in implementing a two phase investigation into the series of events that led up to the Iraq War and was subsequently instrumental in the intelligence reforms of 2007 and 2008 (read more here). 

After his retirement a Chairman of the Intelligence Committee in 2009, Senator Rockefeller accepted the position as Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (where South Dakota’s Senator Thune is a ranking member and often serves as the Republican voice). As the Senior Senator from West Virginia and given the state’s mining/industry based economy, Rockefeller’s role here is in line with his constituent interests. According to the committee website, he is currently working to pass the American Infrastructure Investment Fund Act which would allocate funds for “rails, roads, bridges, ports, transit systems, and other infrastructure in order to meet the needs of our country” (source) and continues to call for increased cyber security and education for the 21st century (see video).

“Just as harnessing technological innovation is crucial to our economic future, addressing the dangers of a completely interconnected world is just as critical.  Cyber security is one of the great national security challenges we face – it is a challenge that the government and the private sector must work collaboratively to solve.  I am confident we will.” (quotes from committee press release).

In addition, Senator Rockefeller is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health Care. In this position he was a primary supporter of the Health Care legislation proposed by President Clinton in 1994. He was also instrumental in the passage of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Today, his proposed legislation focuses on reducing prescription drug addiction which happens to be unusually high in his state of West Virginia (An estimated 150,000 West Virginians need treatment for addiction each year which is much higher than the national average).

Other positions Senator Rockefeller holds in Congress: he serves on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Joint Committee on Taxation, is Co-chairman of the Senate Steel Caucus, and is a United States Trade Advisor. He favors tax credits and incentives as well as progressive tax reform, and has recently proposed legislation to protect both miners’ and veterans’ retirement benefits (see his website homepage for more information).

A full listing of his committee assignments and links to the committees’ pages can be found on his senate website here. 

Sources:
http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/about-jay
http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/press/record.cfm?id=298775
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=2c48227e-9b09-4e9d-a5fc-79f5b205ebe2 
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=ea21aaca-84b4-425c-9b14-206c08c822ac
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175433,00.html
http://www.rockefeller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/committee-assignments
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/R000361/votes/