U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, said a claim from his Republican challenger that he votes with his party’s leader in the House more than 90 percent of the time is wrong.

A recent TV spot for Bryan Republican Bill Flores said since House Speaker “Nancy Pelosi took over, Edwards votes with her 96 percent of the time.” The ad drew the statistic from a Washington Post tally of 1,000-plus votes most House members cast this session.

Bill Flores (left) accuses U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards (right) of voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi 96 percent of the time, though that figure may be misleading.

It’s the second Flores spot to use the Post database and comes amid a flurry of advertising from GOP groups citing the statistic to question Edwards’ reputation as a moderate Democrat.

Last week, Edwards called the ads dishonest since the database measures how often members vote with the majority of members in their party, not the frequency with which they side with the speaker. Edwards voted with Pelosi — who rarely votes — 80 percent of the time.

“You can play with statistics and mislead with statistics, but on the big issues, conservative groups like the NRA and the Texas Farm Bureau have applauded me for my voting record,” he said.

The Post database shows conservative stalwarts John Carter, R-Round Rock, whose House district includes Bell and Coryell counties, and Joe Barton, R-Ennis, whose district includes part of Limestone County, voted 92 and 93 percent of the time with GOP members.

A Flores campaign aide denied any distinction between a vote with a majority of Democrats and a vote with the House speaker.

“No votes are allowed in the House without (Pelosi’s) permission,” said Matt Mackowiak, Flores’ campaign manager. “The Washington Post vote score accurately reflects how often Edwards votes with her as the elected leader that he wanted.”

Several political scientists, however, said the 96 percent statistic is flawed and presents a false impression that Edwards is on the left wing of his party.

Keith Poole, a University of Georgia professor who has studied the ideological makeup of Congress for more than two decades, said in recent sessions Edwards aligned with his party on key votes “somewhere in the 70 to 80 (percent) range — not 96 percent, which is complete nonsense.”

He added, “If they’re using something that sloppy, that’s pretty bad.”

Poole worked with another political scientist, Howard Rosenthal, to develop a software program called DW-NOMINATE, which maps where legislators fall in relation to each other on the political spectrum. He said the program is a fairer measure of ideology among legislators than the Post database.

Noncontroversial votes

“One of the problems with the Washington Post database is it gives too much weight to votes that are noncontroversial,” said Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University who has tracked ideology over time in the Texas Legislature.

For example, Edwards voted aye in a 415-0 vote to pass a resolution establishing March as “National Criminal Justice Month” and took part in a 395-5 vote congratulating the Chicago Blackhawks for winning the 2010 Stanley Cup.

The Post database gives equal weight to those innocuous votes and votes on health insurance reform (which Edwards broke ranks to oppose) and on the stimulus (which he and a majority of Democrats supported).

“He’s definitely a moderate — one of the few we have left,” said Poole, basing his assessment on Edwards’ DW-NOMINATE ranking.

Edwards is the 46th most moderate member of his 255-member caucus, according to the program.

The Washington-based political magazine National Journal has published “vote ratings,” measuring members on a partisan scale every year since 1981.

The 2009 ratings, which were based on 97 key votes, put Edwards in the “centrist” category and called him the 57th most moderate Democrat in the House.

The magazine’s analysis placed Edwards as tied for the 31st most conservative member in his caucus on economic issues, but ranked him as less conservative on social issues and foreign policy.

For years, Edwards has survived in the conservative 17th Congressional District by burnishing an independent voting record and a willingness to put the district’s interest over those of his party’s leaders.

This campaign cycle, he has highlighted his votes against the Democratic health care bill and a cap-and-trade bill to limit carbon dioxide emissions, which he said would be onerous for the energy-rich district.

But Republicans have played up national themes and argued that Edwards’ seat is critical to stopping the broader Democratic agenda.

Regardless of Edwards’ place on the political spectrum, the outcome of the race will help determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the House next year.

Asked if the Washington Post database reflects Edwards’ ideological position, Mackowiak sidestepped the question and said the congressman is not conservative enough for his district.

“If Mr. Edwards truly wants us to believe that he properly represents us, he should not have endorsed Barack Obama as president, he should not have voted multiple times for Pelosi as speaker of the House, and he should have vigorously and vocally opposed virtually all of the Pelosi-Obama agenda,” Mackowiak said.

Edwards said Flores’ reliance on the statistic in his advertising was purposefully deceptive.

“Bill Flores’ false attack is based on the big lie political theory: If you tell a big lie loudly enough and often enough, people might believe it,” Edwards said.

“On major issues, I’ve always voted on an independent-minded basis, beginning with my first vote in Congress, when I supported George H.W. Bush’s authority to go to war after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.”

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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