UPDATE: For those who have asked where this information can be found, this is public information found here. It’s worth noting that we did Democrat Rep. Tracy Kraft Tharp the favor of correcting her occupation as she “pulled an Ali Hasan” by listing her occupation as “small business”. The fact of the matter is that she is a lobbyist, and was registered as such until right before she decided to run for office. You’re welcome, Rep. Kraft Tharp.
With the bevy of bizarre legislation coming out of Colorado’s Democrat-controlled legislature, it might benefit Coloradans to know who exactly is representing them in the State House and State Senate. What we found might surprise you. Then again, maybe not.
We’ve separated the House Representatives from the State Senators to keep it readable. This first post reviews just the House. The next post in the series will examine the Senate.
The most prevalent occupation as self-reported by State House Democrats is a tie between “education” and “legislator”, the latter meaning that their State House gig is their primary occupation. Contrastingly, the most reported occupation by Republican Representatives is either business owner or working in a business capacity. View the breakdown of occupation by party below.
“Other” was a category we created in which to lump occupations that didn’t fit neatly into another category. Examples of occupations that fit into “other” included bio-scientist, engineer, firefighter, and social worker on the left. On the right, examples of occupations that fit into “other” included counselor, mediator, retiree, and physician, among others.
While no Republicans considered themselves to be lobbyists or in education, no Democrats listed farming, agriculture, or ranching as their occupation. Below is a breakdown of Republican vs. Democrat by occupation. The same rules for “other” apply.
When Coloradans scratch their heads at the increasingly ridiculous and business-unfriendly legislation coming from the Colorado State legislature, perhaps it would benefit Coloradans to remember that Democrats don’t traditionally come from a business background.
Stay tuned for the Senate version!
Very interesting indeed. I'd like to know exactly what "education" means since it's not a job. It's a field. It would be interesting to see EXACTLY what people from both sides actually DID in the education field. Thanks for doing this. It's eye-opening.
But they want the cream off of the top!
Is Rep. Ray Scott still a consultant with American Petroleum Institute/Rocky Mountain Energy Forum? He too went with the ' businessowner' descriptor. I assume you applied the same 'rigorous' methodology to ferret such out for all who listed such vague professions? And why is Bob Rankin (R) blank? Did you look into what he might be hiding, not that I am saying he is hiding anything…PS, thanks for the update!
I would also like to see which legislators are native Coloradoans and which are transplants. It seems with each legislative session, Colorado becomes more and more like California! It saddens me no end to see the direction our state is headed with the liberals in control.
Please post your list of which legislators ended up in which category. Remember what St. Ronald said: Trust but verify. Thanks…
This is very interesting data, because it explains so much of why the two parties are polarized and continuing to drift apart from the center. Dems for the most part represent urban environments and Republicans rural ones. Since the migration to an information economy has occurred, and the industrial migration to the cities happened decades ago, we rarely see people emigrate to the city from farms. Today, people are born, raised, live and die in the city without getting any exposure to people from rural areas. That means the urban-rural cultures never intermix, and extreme opinions (e.g., "guns are bad") are allowed to grow in isolation. This is not a good development for America.
I don't get their ideology at all…they destroy jobs with regulations and taxes plus don't think we have a spending problem. It's insane too me! Did you see what Peter Schiff wrote? http://lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff209.html
As usual Democrats create a hostile environment for business and economic growth.
I found this to be very interesting…