Once-Moderate Republicans Turn Against Labor

The 1994 elections brought a Republican majority to the House of Representatives. There is growing evidence that they also caused Republican Representatives who had been voting in the interests of public employees to begin voting the hard anti-union line of the Republican leadership.

Did these Representatives alter their voting because they felt they could now "vote their conscience"? Did they capitulate to the Republican leadership? What caused their shift?

Whatever their reasons, the following table illustrates this shift -- highlighting 11 Representatives who changed from voting a majority of the time with the interests of AFSCME members, to voting in your interests as little as 8% of the time.

1994 Lifetime Voting Records vs. 1995 Voting Records
(% of votes supporting the interests of AFSCME members)