By Constitution Staff

The Oklahoma Constitution presents the 46th 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 reforming the Oklahoma judicial nominating process, blocking the rules of global entities, protecting the rights of biological women, not tying the hands of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, preventing the trafficking of abortion-inducing drugs, combating illegal immigration, removal of squatters from property, prohibiting Ranked-Choice voting, avoiding wasteful spending, and opposing government subsidies to major sports leagues.

The average score this year was 59% in the House and 55% in the Senate. The Top Conservative and Top Liberal legislators were selected based upon this year’s scores. Making the Top Conservatives list were the 37 legislators who scored 80 percent or higher. On the Top Liberals list were the 25 lawmakers scoring 20 percent or lower.

TOP CONSERVATIVES

Thirteen legislators scored a perfect 100% conservative rating this year. Three Senators had perfect scores: Nathan Dahm of Broken Arrow, Warren Hamilton of McCurtain, and Shane Jett of Shawnee. The ten members of the House with a perfect score were: Chris Banning of Bixby, Chad Caldwell of Enid, Dean Davis of Broken Arrow, Tom Gann of Inola, Jim Grego of Wilburton, John Kane of Bartlesville, Jim Olsen of Roland, Marilyn Stark of Bethany, Kevin West of Moore, and Rick West of Heavener.

One legislator scored 93%, Rep. Mark Lepak of Claremore. Ten legislators scored 90 per cent including Sen. Dana Prieto of Tulsa, and Representatives Denise Crosswhite Hader of Piedmont, David Hardin of Stilwell, Gerrid Kendrix of Altus, Cody Maynard of Durant, Carl Newton of Cherokee, Eric Roberts of Oklahoma City, Clay Staires of Skiatook, Jay Steagall of Yukon, and Rande Worthen of Lawton. Three legislators scored 86% including Sen. Dusty Deevers of Elgin, and representatives Sherrie Conley of Newcastle, and Neil Hays of Checotah. Senator Casey Murdock of Felt scored 83 percent. Nine legislators scored 80 percent including senators George Burns of Pollard and Julie Daniels of Bartlesville, along with representatives Steve Bashore of Miami, Josh Cantrell of Kingston, Ross Ford of Broken Arrow, Brian Hill of Mustang, Kenton Patzkowsky of Balko, Danny Williams of Seminole, and Max Wolfley of Oklahoma City.

TOP LIBERALS

Eleven legislators, five senators and six representatives, scored zero percent conservative this year. The senators include Michael Brooks of Oklahoma City, Jo Anna Dossett of Tulsa, Senate Minority (Democrat) Leader Kay Floyd, Carri Hicks of Oklahoma City, and Julia Kirt of Oklahoma City who takes over as Minority Leader next session. Representatives scoring zero include Arturo Alonso-Sandoval of Oklahoma City, Ellyn Hefner of Oklahoma City, Annie Menz of Norman, House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson of Oklahoma City, Melissa Provenzano of Tulsa, and John Waldron of Tulsa. Five representatives scored 3% including Jared Deck of Norman, Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, Trish Ranson of of Stillwater, Jacob Rosecrants of Norman, and Suzanne Schreiber of Tulsa. Representatives Forrest Bennett of Oklahoma City and Meloyde Blancett of Tulsa scored 6 percent. Representative Amanda Swope of Norman scored 12 percent. Representatives Jason Lowe and Mauree Turneer, both of Oklahoma City, scored 13 percent. Senator Kevin Matthews of Tulsa and Rep. Ajay Pittman of Oklahoma City scored 15 percent. Sen. Mary Boren of Norman and Rep. Mickey Dollens of Oklahoma City scored 16 percent. Sen. George Young of Oklahoma City scored 19 percent. Representative Andy Fugate of Oklahoma City scored 20 percent.

A description of each 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 found by clicking the box labeled “How Conservative is your legislator?” at the top of our home page at:

www.oklahomaconstitution.com