When I provided a link to a story about a legislative power ranking which placed Seventh District Congressman Roy Blunt as the 19th most powerful member of the U. S. House of Representatives, it appeared the source was a survey conducted by the Associated Press.
Most newspapers did not clarify where the rankings came from, but the Washington Post did:
"A company serving lobbyists published its 'Power Rankings' of Congress online yesterday after five months of combing through legislative records, committee assignments, news articles and fundraising documents," the Post reported Wednesday, pegging Knowlegis as "a new firm that provides software and information to clients who want to influence public policy." The rankings, the Post added, "take into account such factors as tenure, committee positions, party membership, money contributed to Congressional candidates through leadership PACs and the degree to which a politician was able to shape legislation through amendments."
This appears to be saying that Blunt is more powerful than 416 representatives because he pours a lot of money from lobbyists into the campaign coffers of his fellow Congressmen and those who seek to join that elite crew and because he has been able to effectively use an amendment system which has come under sharp criticism lately.
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