By Ron McWhirter

We believe the most important product of this publication is our annual Oklahoma Conservative Index which rates members of the Oklahoma Legislature. We published our first scorecard in the summer of 1979, and with this summer issue we present the 46th edition of the ratings.

Prior to initiating the Oklahoma Conservative Index, many legislators could claim to be a conservative and there was no objective measure to determine if that was true. We base our ratings on ten key bills that were voted on by the legislators in the past legislative session. We describe the bills and publish how each legislator voted on each of the ten bills. As these legislators run for reelection, or perhaps higher office, you can evaluate if they deserve your vote.

Each year I use this space to provide some deeper analysis of the Conservative Index results. In addition to evaluating individual legislators, the Conservative Index is also a useful tool to examine the Legislature in a broader context.

As reported in the article accompanying this year’s ratings, the average Oklahoma Conservative Index score this year was 59% in the House and 55% in the Senate. So, viewed as a whole, the Oklahoma Legislature is a little more conservative than it is liberal. Last year, the opposite was true. So, perhaps the Legislature is turning back toward the right.

At the national level there is no longer any dispute that there is a vast chasm between the political philosophy (conservative versus liberal) of Republican and Democrat officeholders. But in Oklahoma, it was long claimed that Oklahoma Democrats are different from the national party. It was said that a Democrat here would be called a Republican in another state. While that may still be somewhat true of Democrat voters, that is not the case for Democrat lawmakers. That difference in philosophy between the two major parties can be tested by using the Conservative Index to evaluate the Oklahoma Legislature.

Breaking out the scores by political party shows a vast difference between the Republicans and the Democrats in the Legislature. Each year we name the Top Conservative and the Top Liberal legislators based upon their scores. Making the Top Conservatives list this year were 37 lawmakers who scored 80% or higher. For comparison, last year there were only 19 to be so honored. On the Top Liberals list are 25 lawmakers scoring 20% or lower. Last year there were 29. All of the Top Conservatives are Republicans. All of the Top Liberals are Democrats.

The average score for the 81 Republicans in the Oklahoma House was 72%, while the 20 Democrats averaged only 7 percent. Ten Republicans scored a perfect 100 percent. The lowest score for a Republican in the House was 34 percent. Meanwhile, the highest score among the Democrats in the House was 31 percent. Six House Democrats scored zero this year.

In the Oklahoma Senate, the average score of the 40 Republicans was 62 percent. Three Republicans scored a perfect 100%, while the lowest score for a Republican in the Senate was 34 percent. The average score of the 8 Democrats in the Senate was just 8 percent. Five senate Democrats scored zero. The highest score for a Democrat was 16 percent.

The Democratic Party used to be the majority party in Oklahoma – both in voter registration and in the number offices held. Today, neither of those are true. In the Oklahoma Legislature, Democrats hold only 28 seats out of 149. This year, 27 of the Democrat legislators made the Top Liberals list. Clearly, they are not in step with most voters, and perhaps not even the voters in their own districts.

While Democrats in the Legislature are going the way of the dinosaurs, the elephant in the room is the Republican In Name Only (RINO) members of the majority party. They make up a significant segment of the Republicans in the Legislature. In the past, these liberal-leaning Republicans would probably have been registered Democrats. Today, they masquerade as Republicans because they could not get elected otherwise. It is worthy to note that of the 121 Republicans in the Legislature, only 37 made the Top Conservatives list. So, less than a third can truly claim to be conservatives. Meanwhile, there were 28 Republicans scoring below 60 percent – RINO territory.

So, in Oklahoma, the battle is between liberals and conservatives within the Republican Party. Nearly half of the GOP members fall within the undecipherable group between the two factions. These uncommitted Republicans are malleable and could use some friendly nudging.

Ron McWhirter is one of the founders of the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper and serves as the General Manager. He may be contacted at the newspaper email: okconsti@aol.com