National rankings describe former Reps. Wilson, Boccieri, Dahlkemper as centrists

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

They were voted out of Congress in the last election, partly because they were painted as liberals, but ex-U.S. Reps. Charlie Wilson, John Boccieri and Kathy Dahlkemper were among the most moderate U.S. House members, according to a ranking by the National Journal of key 2010 votes.

The annual report looks at key votes — 96 for senators and 93 for House members — to base its liberal-conservative ratings. The magazine/website has ranked congressional members annually since 1981.

Because some members of Congress didn’t vote in the report’s key votes, 10 of the House’s 435 members aren’t ranked and six of the Senate’s 100 members aren’t ranked.

The three ex-House members, all Democrats, are considered “centrists” by the National Journal. A centrist is considered someone with a composite liberal-conservative scores close to 50-50.

Wilson of St. Clairsville, who represented Ohio’s 6th District, was the 183rd most liberal member of the U.S. House and the 245th most conservative. He received a liberal-conservative score of 58.8-41.2 meaning he was more liberal than 58.8 percent of House members last year and more conservative than 41.2 percent of them.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.