Regular visitors to this blog will note the vote count in the upper right-hand corner. It's tough to decide what votes that Congressman Walberg casts are worthy of mentioning-- after all, no one really expected him or anyone else to vote against "observing American Heart Month," and many of the procedural votes in Congress aren't significant outside the House chamber.

Initially, I had planned to include all legislation passed, but even that proved troublesome. Do I include the Small Business Tax Relief Act of 2007, which passed with limited opposition? It would seem wrong to put that on the same level as enacting the reforms suggested by the 9/11 Commission, for example, or raising the minimum wage, where there was significant debate. And only including legislation misses out on things like Walberg's vote in support of the escalation of the war in Iraq; it was a non-binding, symbolic resolution, but certainly significant!

What's important enough to be counted?

I've decided to let the Washington Post make that decision for me. One of the finest newspapers in the country, the Post has teams of people contemplating such things, and I think I'll trust their judgement and their "Key Votes" page of their Votes Database. It's not perfect, and doesn't include some votes that I would personally consider important. But this way, I don't have to make that decision, and no one will think I'm inflating the number of "No" votes to make Congressman Walberg look bad.

And some of you are probably thinking this isn't important, but I really do think it is. This is certainly a partisan, biased website, but I hope to maintain a certain level of honesty and openness too. After all, that's what we ask of Congressman Walberg and all our political leaders.

Walberg's Key Votes

Labels: Walberg Voting Record