Hmmm... have you ever looked for something on a website, and not found it, even though it was right in front of your face? When you finally find what you're looking for, you slap your forehead and say, "Of course, there it is."

In our article, "State Legislative Candidates Speak to Mens' Republicans Forum," I explained that an area of disagreement occurred when Representative Karen Fann said that the Pachyderm ratings between herself, Senator Lori Klein and Speaker Andy Tobin were only in the range of about a point or so. Klein maintained that there was a 5 point difference.

When I did the fact checking, I found that Fann was correct, based on the Pachyderm Coalition website's, '2011 General Session Legislative Report Cards.' I said it "appears to be their latest 'report card'."

Indeed, for the 2011 Report Card, there was only a range between the three candidates of 1.1 points.

The problem is, regarding the report card itself, I was wrong, It was not their latest report card, it just was the latest that was clearly marked. Go to the Pachyderm website, and in the left hand column, you'll see this:

Since I didn't see anything that said, '2012 General Session Legislative Report Cards,' even after poking around the site a bit, I assumed that the latest published report was the 2011 report. My mistake.

Duh. If I had only clicked on the yellow square above the section titled 'Pachyderm Pages,' I would have been taken to the 2012 Legislative Report Card.

(Note to the Pachyderm webdesigner - at least change the text to read, 'Click Here for 2012 Legislative Report Card,' please. It will help people find what they're looking for. And read this book.)

Now, let's look at the 2012 numbers:

Senator Lori Klein moved up to the number seven spot, with an 84.7 score, and a "Pro-Freedom Republican" label. On the House side, Representative Karen Fann had an 80.1 score, and was also labeled a "Pro-Freedom Republican," while Speaker Tobin had a 78.6 score, and was labeled, 'Republican'.

That means there's a range of 6.1 between the three candidates for 2012. So, Klein was correct, as far as the 2012 numbers. But, Fann was correct as far as the 2011 numbers. They were simply referring to two different sets of numbers.

What it all boils down to is that report cards from organizations focus on the issues that are important to their members. But, you'll have to decide which issues are important to you, and create your own 'report card' in order to make an informed decision.

As Klein said in an email about the incorrect Pachyderm information, "I truly think it is important to compare votes as that is our record on issues of importance to the voters. Often times, legislators will claim they are in tune and in step with those in their community and share their conservative values only to be found out later to have compromised those principles with votes that do not truly reflect being a fiscal and/or social conservative."

As for me? I offer my deepest apologies for any misleading information I may have provided. Thank you to Senator Klein for bringing this to my attention. Hopefully this clears the matter up.