Scorecard | Method
| Senate: Votes | A-M
| N-W | House: Votes
| A-C | D-I
| K-M | N
| O-S | T-W
National Hispanic Leadership
Agenda
Congressional Scorecard
105th Congress
Methodology
In the Spring of 1998, the Board of Directors of the National
Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) authorized the publication of
a Hispanic Congressional Scorecard, covering both sessions of
the 105th Congress, soon after it adjourned and prior to the 1998
elections. A Scorecard Committee was appointed to identify and
recommend to the Board votes for inclusion in the document (see
front cover for a listing of Committee members).
The fundamental purpose of the Scorecard is to ensure that
Latino leaders, organizations, and citizens are fully informed
about the performance of federal legislators on issues of importance
to the Hispanic community. In addition, it is expected that the
future behavior of the U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators
themselves may be influenced by the knowledge that key votes on
issues of particular significance to Hispanic Americans will be
scrutinized and published.
Pursuant to discussions of the NHLA Board, the Committee used
three basic criteria to select key votes:
-
Importance of the vote to the Hispanic community, measured
both substantively and symbolically
-
Prior notice to members of Congress regarding the position
of the Latino community, as evidenced by a formal communication
by at least one NHLA member organization to the Congress
-
Substantial consensus, although not necessarily unanimity,
among NHLA member organizations regarding the "pro-Hispanic"
position
During the Committee's deliberations, an informal "issue
diversity" criterion also emerged. In other words, the Committee
sought some degree of balance in the votes selected so that the
Scorecard would not be unduly weighted toward any single issue,
e.g., immigration or voting rights. Committee decisions were arrived
at by consensus. Member organizations identified potential votes,
which were then discussed, sometimes at length. Only those votes
reflecting a consensus of the Committee were recommended to the
Board for inclusion.
On September 18, 1998, after consideration and some revisions
of the Committee's recommendations, the full NHLA Board of Directors
selected the votes included herein for inclusion in the Scorecard.
In several instances, votes that were expected but which had not
yet taken place were authorized for inclusion in the Scorecard. |