Members’ Power Rankings by State, Committee, and Class Available on Web Site

WASHINGTON, DC. – The first analysis and ranking system of power in Congress were released today on Congress.org. Power Rankings is the culmination of a five-month research project by Knowlegis that sought to measure various characteristics of power. Knowlegis is a knowledge management company that provides services and software for government relations professionals.

Knowlegis staff collected data in three Power Categories for every Member of Congress. The results are online at Congress.org and include the Power Ranking and Power Score for every Member of Congress. The public and the media are also able to search and organize lists to view rankings by state, committee membership, tenure (class in Congress), or Power Category.
Link to Knowlegis Power Rankings.

The Power Rankings project was led by Brad Fitch, CEO of Knowlegis. “We integrated every available piece of publicly available data to create an assessment of each Member of Congress,” Fitch said. “We developed criteria and a weighting formula that reflected how members exercise power. This may not be the totality of a member’s contribution to his or her constituents, but it can serve as a valuable tool for citizens when they are judging their elected officials,” he said.

Brad Fitch will be available in a conference call on Tuesday, May 16 11:00am EST. Conference Call Number: 877-537-0850. Conference Code: 717-722-9168

The results produced some logical findings, such as that congressional leadership was a key factor that distinguished the most powerful members. A few unexpected findings showed that:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) ranked 2nd among Senate Democrats and 11th overall, in part due to a strong legislative record in 2005. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) ranked 10th in the “Legislation” Power Category (but 152nd overall) due to her success in 2005 in getting amendments considered on the House floor – more than any other member of the House (31 amendments considered, 13 passed).

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) scored 1st in the “Influence” Power Category (which measures ability to influence legislative agenda through indirect means), primarily due to his media visibility.

The criteria for Power Rankings were developed by Knowlegis in consultation with academic experts and congressional staff by identifying factors that contributed to the exercise of power in 2005. The Knowlegis research team grouped the factors into three Power Categories:

>> Position: How much power could the legislator wield through his/her position in the Congress by virtue of tenure, committee assignments, or leadership position? This Power Category included weightings for all committees, subcommittees, and leadership positions, taking into consideration majority or minority party status of the member.

>> Influence: How much power did the legislator demonstrate to influence the congressional agenda or outcome of votes through the media, congressional caucuses, or money contributed to other Members of Congress by his or her campaign committees or leadership PACs?

>> Legislative Activity: How much power did the legislator demonstrate through the passage of legislation or shaping legislation through amendments? The team eliminated data items which did not substantially change the bill or existing law. These included amendments dealing with technical changes or bills of a ceremonial or commemorative nature such as naming of post offices or other public buildings, or non-binding resolutions that expressed the “sense of the Congress.”

Knowlegis staff carefully researched, sorted, and considered thousands of data points from the Power Categories to determine what factors legitimately demonstrate the exercise of power. Researchers reviewed thousands of media articles, hundreds of bills that passed out of committee and through each chamber, and more than a thousand floor amendments. The team limited the research to the 2005 calendar year.

The concept for Power Rankings was developed by Bob Hansan, President of Capitol Advantage (Knowlegis’ parent company). “Americans spend more time analyzing the individual statistics of their favorite baseball players than they do assessing the performance of their elected officials,” said Hansan. “We thought it would be great to give citizens an additional scorecard to measure their Members of Congress as part of their overall judgment of their elected officials,” he said.

Hansan oversees four companies including Knowlegis, Capitol Advantage (creators of Capwiz·XC), Capitol Advantage Publishing (publishers of the Congress At Your Fingertips guide), and e-advocates.

Conference Call Information:

WHO: Brad Fitch, CEO of Knowlegis
WHAT: Conference Call on Power Rankings
WHEN: Tuesday, May 16, 11:00 am (EST)
WHERE: Conference Call Number: 877-537-0850. Conference Code: 717-722-916