By Constitution Staff

The Oklahoma Constitution presents the 45th annual Oklahoma Conservative Index rating our state legislators. Members of each house of the Oklahoma Legislature were rated on ten key votes. A favorable vote on these issues represents a belief in conservative principles.

After taking suggestions from conservative leaders, proposed bills were reviewed by a joint committee composed of the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper staff and members of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC). The committee then selected the ten key votes to be used for the ratings. The legislators were rated based on their votes on these bills which included such issues as protecting children from gender transition surgeries and therapies, providing parents education freedom for their children to escape failing government schools, restricting foreign ownership of land in Oklahoma, opposing voting by non-citizens, ending government run television, interference in the free market, avoiding wasteful spending, and opposing government subsidies to big business.

The average score this year was 45% in the House and 48% in the Senate. The Top Conservative and Top Liberal legislators were selected based upon this year's scores. Making the Top Conservatives list were 19 lawmakers who scored 80 percent or higher. On the Top Liberals list were 29 lawmakers scoring 20 percent or lower.

TOP CONSERVATIVES

Four legislators scored a perfect 100% conservative rating this year. Senator Warren Hamilton of McCurtain was the only member of the Senate with a perfect score. The three members of the House with a perfect score were Tom Gann of Inola, Jim Olsen of Roland, and Rick West of Heavener. Three legislators, all members of the House, scored 93 per cent including Sherrie Conley of Newcastle, Cody Maynard of Durant, and Kevin West of Moore. Three senators and four representatives scored 90 percent. The senators scoring 90 percent were David Bullard of Durant, George Burns of Pollard, and Shane Jett of Shawnee. The representatives scoring 90 percent were Denise Crosswhite Hader of Yukon, John Kane of Bartlesville, Gerrid Kendrix of Altus, and Jay Steagall of Yukon. One senator, Dana Prieto of Tulsa, scored 80 percent. Also scoring 80 percent were representatives David Hardin of Stilwell, David Smith of Arpeler, Chris Sneed of Fort Gibson, and Marilyn Stark of Bethany.

TOP LIBERALS

Four legislators, three senators and one representative, scored zero percent conservative this year. The senators, all of Oklahoma City, include Michael Brooks, Senate Minority (Democrat) Leader Kay Floyd, and George Young. The representative scoring zero percent was Amanda Swope of Norman. One representative, Annie Menz of Norman, scored 3 percent. Representative Jacob Rosecrants of Norman scored 6 percent. Two representatives, Mauree Turneer and Jason Lowe, both of Oklahoma City, scored 9 percent. Twelve legislators, three senators and nine representatives, scored 10 percent. Senators scoring 10 percent include Jo Anna Dossett of Tulsa, Carri Hicks of Oklahoma City, and Julia Kirt of Oklahoma City. The representatives scoring 10 percent are Arturo Alonso-Sandoval of Oklahoma City, Forrest Bennett of Oklahoma City, Meloyde Blancett of Tulsa, Jared Deck of Norman, Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, Ellyn Hefner of Oklahoma City, Trish Ranson of Stillwater, Suzanne Schreiber of Tulsa, and John Waldron of Tulsa. Senator Kevin Matthews of Tulsa, and Oklahoma City representatives Mickey Dollens, Cyndi Munson House Minority (Democrat) Leader, and Ajay Pittman scored 13 percent. Representative Andy Fugate of Oklahoma City scored 16 percent, as did Melissa Provenzano of Tulsa. Two representatives, Eddy Dempsey of Valliant and T.J. Marti of Tulsa, scored 19 percent.

A description of the bills used for this year’s ratings, a list of all the legislators with their vote on each of the ten bills, their score for this year, and their Cumulative Average which includes scores from previous years, is available by clicking the box labeled “How Conservative is your legislator?” at the top of our home page.