The Connecticut Chapter of the Sierra Club came out with an odd ranking today of legislators' votes on environmental issues important to the group.
It's odd because they didn't rank by specific legislator, but rather by town, and spread over a 9-year period.
Is it just us, or does this make the entire study a somewhat useless exercise?
For example, they rank Torrington as voting with the Sierra Club's stand on environmental issues 76 percent of the time, but different legislators have been in office over those 9 years, and right now, Torrington is represented by two different state representatives, from two different parties, with a pretty different approach to most issues.
Well, for what it's worth, here's their ranking of area towns:
Avon 88
Barkhamsted 67
Burlington 40
Canaan 74
Canton 92
Goshen 94
Granby 53
Hartland 74
Harwinton 40
Litchfield 54
Morris 57
New Hartford 53
Norfolk 74
North Canaan 74
Salisbury 94
Sharon 94
Simsbury 69
Thomaston 40
Torrington 76
Winchester 74
Here's the Sierra Club's explanation:
This study shows, from 2000 through 2008, how the representatives from each town voted on environmental issues. The spread of voting scores was dramatic. Some Connecticut towns scored close to 100%, while others failed to muster even 50%. The average score for all towns was 78%, which means that about four of every five votes was in support of the environment. The study was prepared by Martin Mador, CT Sierra Legislative and Political Chair.
John Blake, Sierra Chapter Chair, said “We believe this new study will help people understand how their representatives are either voting to support the environment, or are voting not to.”