Rating Group: Equality California

2005-2006 Positions on LGBT Rights

Issues: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
How to Interpret these Evaluations
State Office Name Party Rating
CA U.S. House-1 Doug LaMalfa R 0
CA U.S. House-4 Tom McClintock R 0
CA U.S. House-10 Jeff Denham R 0
CA U.S. House-14 Jackie Speier D 87
CA U.S. House-23 Kevin McCarthy R 0
CA U.S. House-27 Judy Chu D 100
CA U.S. House-35 Gloria Negrete McLeod D 100
CA U.S. House-37 Karen Bass D 100
CA U.S. House-47 Alan Lowenthal D 93
CA U.S. House-51 Juan Vargas D 93
CA State Assembly-2 Wesley Chesbro D 100
CA State Senate-2 Noreen Evans D 100
CA State Senate-3 Lois Wolk D 100
CA State Senate-8 Leland Yee D 100
CA State Senate-9 Loni Hancock D 100
CA State Senate-11 Mark Leno D 100
CA State Senate-23 Bill Emmerson R 0
CA State Senate-25 Carol Liu D 100
CA State Senate-27 Fran Pavley D 100
CA State Senate-28 Ted Lieu D 100
CA State Senate-29 Robert Huff R 0
CA State Senate-30 Ron Calderon D 93
CA State Senate-37 Mimi Walters R 0
CA State Senate-38 Mark Wyland R 0
CA Secretary of State Debra Bowen D 93
CA Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones D 100
CA Supervisor-2 Mark Ridley-Thomas D 100
CA Supervisor-3 Wilma Chan D 100
CA Supervisor-4 John Benoit Other 0
CA Council Member-5 Paul Koretz D 100
CA Council Member-At-Large Joe Baca, Jr. Other 93
CA Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson Other 100
CA Councilmember-At-Large David Cogdill R 0
CA Mayor Pro Tempore-At-Large Alan Nakanishi Other 0
Samuel Aanestad Other 0
Richard Ackerman Other 0
Gregory Aghazarian Other 0
Richard Alarcón Other 87
Elaine Alquist Other 100
Juan Arambula Other 67
Roy Ashburn Other 0
James Battin Other 0
Patty Berg Other 100
Rudy Bermúdez Other 100
Sam Blakeslee Other 0
Russell Bogh Other 0
Joseph Canciamilla Other 100
Gilbert Cedillo Other 100
Edward Chavez Other 100
Rebecca Cohn Other 100
Joe Coto Other 100
Dave Cox Other 0
Lynn Daucher Other 13
Hector De La Torre Other 100
Charles DeVore Other 0
Denise Ducheny Other 93
Joseph Dunn Other 100
Robert Dutton Other 0
Mervyn Dymally Other 100
Martha Escutia Other 73
Liz Figueroa Other 100
Dean Florez Other 27
Dario Frommer Other 93
Bonnie Garcia Other 7
Jackie Goldberg Other 100
Tom Harman Other 0
Raymond Haynes, Jr. Other 0
Dennis Hollingsworth Other 0
Jerome Horton Other 93
Shirley Horton Other 0
Guy Houston Other 0
Betty Karnette Other 100
Richard Keene Other 0
Christine Kehoe Other 100
Johan Klehs Other 100
Sheila Kuehl Other 100
John Laird Other 100
Jay La Suer Other 0
Robert Leslie Other 0
Lloyd Levine Other 100
Sally Lieber Other 100
Michael Machado Other 87
Abel Maldonado Other 0
Bob Margett Other 0
Barbara Matthews Other 93
Bill Maze Other 0
Carole Migden Other 100
Cindy Montañez Other 100
William Phillip Morrow Other 0
Dennis Lee Mountjoy Other 7
Eugene Mullin Other 100
Kevin Murray Other 92
Joseph Nation Other 100
Pedro Nava Other 100
Roger Niello Other 0
Fabian Núñez Other 100
Jenny Oropeza Other 100
Deborah Ortiz Other 100
Nicole Parra Other 73
Don Perata Other 100
George Plescia Other 0
Charles Poochigian Other 0
Keith Stuart Richman Other 20
Gloria Romero Other 93
George Runner, Jr. Other 0
Sharon Runner Other 0
Ira Ruskin Other 100
Lori Saldaña Other 100
Simón Salinas Other 100
Arnold Schwarzenegger Other 71
Jack Scott Other 93
Saren Simitian Other 100
Nell Soto Other 93
Todd Spitzer Other 0
Audra Strickland Other 0
Alberto Torrico Other 93
Van Tran Other 0
Thomas Umberg Other 93
Mike Villines Other 0
Edward Vincent Other 100

How to Interpret these Evaluations

Keep in mind that ratings done by special interest groups often do not represent a non-partisan stance. In addition, some groups select votes that tend to favor members of one political party over another, rather than choosing votes based solely on issues concerns. Nevertheless, they can be invaluable in showing where an incumbent has stood on a series of votes in the past one or two years, especially when ratings by groups on all sides of an issue are compared. Website links, if available, and descriptions of the organizations offering performance evaluations are accessible by clicking on the name of the group.

Most performance evaluations are displayed in a percentage format. However, some organizations present their ratings in the form of a letter grade or endorsement based on voting records, interviews, survey results and/or sources of campaign funding. For consistency and ease in understanding, Project Vote Smart converts all scores into a percentage when possible. Please visit the group's website or call 1-888-VOTESMART for more specific information.