Fools Gold: The Goldwater Institute grades the legislators

by David Safier

The long awaited Goldwater grades for legislators are in. No real shocks — Republicans get high grades, Democrats get low grades — but a few interesting results. The grades are broken down by category, then each legislator is given a final grade.

Looking over the grades by legislative district (starting on page 31, if you want to dig further yourself), there's really only one interesting finding in Southern Arizona. S. AZ's only split district is LD 9, with 2 Democrats and 1 Republican. The Dems, Steve Farley and Victoria Steele, scored as Dems do on the G.I. rankings: D- and F+. The one Republican, Ethan Orr, got a B-. This wasn't a gift from G.I. It was a score based on a mathematical calculation of his voting record. According to G.I.'s rankings, there's a significant difference in voting between Orr and his two Democratic colleagues, even though Orr is considered a reasonably moderate Republican.

Here are the rankings for Southern Arizona legislators.

LD 2. Linda Lopez: D;  Andrea Delessandro: D; Rosanna Gabaldon: D

LD 3. Olivia Cajero Bedford: D-; Sally Ann Gonzales: F; Marcario Saldate: F+

LD 9. Steve Farley: D-; Ethan Orr: B-; Victoria Steele: F+

LD 10. David Bradley: D-; Stefanie Mach: D-; Bruce Wheeler: F+

LD 11. Al Melvin: B; Adam Kwasman: B+; Steve Smith: B+

LD 14. Gail Griffin: B+; David Gowan: B; David Stevens: B