The Delaware Liberal – Progressive Dem Vote Tracker

Filed in National by on January 3, 2013

Since El Somnambulo will be easing back on his daily pre game / post game reports during the upcoming 2013 Legislative session, we are introducing a new vote tracker to stay on top of legislation in the coming new year. Specifically, we will be tracking legislation that furthers or hinders liberal and progressive policy positions, and recording how our Democratic State Representatives and Senators vote on the legislation. To that end, Delaware Liberal is partnering with the Progressive Democrats for Delaware to track how their endorsed candidates voted in regards to their legislative priorities.

I have made an example of how the vote tracker will work below.

The particular piece of legislation in this instance was Senate Bill 205 of the second session of the last General Assembly, or in other words, the Manufactured Housing Rent Justification bill. The bill narrowly passed the Senate but floundered horribly in the House, in part due to Democrats and PDD-endorsed legislators voting against it. PDD-endorsed candidates are indicated with the PDD logo by their names. If a piece of legislation in the vote tracker is a PDD legislative priority, there will be PDD logo by the title of the legislation. If a legislator’s name is colored blue, he or she is a Democrat, and if his or her name is colored red, they are a Republican.

This will become a regular daily feature, updated every day with new legislation that has been introduced. We will follow what amendments have been proposed to the bill, who is sponsoring those amendments and report on what effect the amendments will have on the original bill.

The purpose behind this voting tracker effort is to both inform and hold our Democrats and progressives responsible for their votes. For the palace intrigue and witty behind the scenese observations that El Somnambulo normally provides in his pre game / post game reports, he will still be around to offer that once and awhile, so no worries there.

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Comments (18)

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  1. Idealist says:

    THIS is wonderful! Accountability!

  2. Dana Garrett says:

    Nice way to keep track. I hope El Som isn’t cutting back because of any serious problem. I hope he and his family are OK.

  3. Jason330 says:

    I concur. This looks awesome.

  4. Jason330 says:

    And BTW – who should I be writing to get a minor league hockey franchise in Wilmington?

  5. Joanne Christian says:

    A major league hockey team owner to show interest.

  6. Delaware Dem says:

    First, we would need a hockey area, no? Last I checked we don’t have one of those.

  7. Delaware Dem says:

    Maybe we can use the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. Not being used right now.

  8. Paul Wishengrad says:

    So I am supposed to dog her if she steps out of line? I am in favor of compromise, unlike Tea Partiers.

  9. Delaware Dem says:

    Compromise is one thing. But there are some issues where there is no compromise. For example, marriage equality, or the Anti-Discrimination Law. You are either for it, or against it. And if you campaign for it, saying you will vote for it, and then vote against, people have the right to know about that and be reminded of it when the legislator is up for reelection. That is the purpose of this, to create a database where liberal, progressive and Democratic voters can check on how their representatives voted on their issues.

    And I do not see how one can object to that.

  10. Dana Garrett says:

    Can someone please tell me why my previous comment on this thread is missing. I said nothing offensive. In fact, I said, something complimentary.

  11. jason330 says:

    It was in the open thread.

  12. Delaware Dem says:

    Dana, somehow you’re comment got moved to the Open Thread. Our apologies. It is back where it belongs.

  13. Thanks, Dana. We’re fine. I really appreciate your concern.

    And I’m not gonna cut back that much. I will always do a Tuesday Post-Game/Pre-Game. I will almost always do either a Wednesday or a Thursday. When the action gets hot & heavy in June, and bills are being worked all three days, I’ll probably be doing ’em all three days.

    My reasons for cutting back a little are threefold and, frankly, not that profound:

    (1) Work makes it challenging to crank out three interesting magnum opuses a week. If what I write bores me, it bores the reader.

    (2) I noticed a lot of redundancy, especially in my Wednesday and Thursday pieces. For example, writing about bills to be considered in committee on Wednesday and writing about the exact same bills on Thursday when they’re on an agenda. Far too many ‘as I wrote yesterday’s.

    (3) I want to free up time to write about issues where I hope to make a difference. Right now, I’m especially concerned about economic justice for retail and restaurant workers who are being exploited by corporations like Walmart. I think my youngest daughter’s social activism has rekindled a spark in me.

    Anyways, you can bet that I’ll probably be writing at least as much, if not more, than before. Just on a broader scale of topics.

  14. Joanne Christian says:

    If we can train Olympic ice skaters why can’t we have a lil’ ol’ hockey team? The Riverfront is constantly being reinvented, we can have the Blue Rocks right next to the Blue Ice( that will be my trademarked name for the team, thank you very much, when this deal is put together). Who’s in? I’ll give Latendresse and Crosby a call.

  15. Dana Garrett says:

    El Som, glad to hear all is well. I look forward to your posts. I enjoy them. I especially look forward to your posts about retail and restaurant workers. Many of them really get the shaft. I recently talked to a Walmart worker who said she found it difficult to find a doctor who would accept Walmart’s insurance. Another group that get exploited are dollar store workers. They are paid low wages but nearly all of them are classified as assistant managers/supervisors so that way the stores don’t have to pay them time and a half for overtime. Bush pushed through the law that allowed that to happen.

  16. Steve Newton says:

    el som

    I like the vote tracker, but could I make a design suggestion?

    If you tinted the background of every other column (House Yes, Senate Yes, Sponsors) something like a light yellow or tan it would be a lot easier to read.