By Constitution Staff

This issue of the Oklahoma Constitution presents the 36th 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 limited government, individual liberty, free enterprise, constitutional government, and traditional standards.

After taking suggestions from many conservatives leaders, the staff of the Oklahoma Constitution submitted bills to a vote of the membership of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC) for recommendations of the ten key votes. The legislators were rated based on their votes on bills such as Repeal of Common Core, Income Tax Cuts, Bonds for Renovation of the Capitol, Abortion Facility Standards, and government subsidies.

The Top Conservative and Top Liberal legislators were selected by their scores on the Index. Making the Top Conservatives list were those lawmakers who scored 80%, or better. On the Top Liberals list were those who made 20%, or less.

THE TOP CONSERVATIVES

Eight legislators, six in the House and two in the Senate, scored a perfect 100% conservative rating this year. House members scoring 100% included David Brumbaugh (Broken Arrow), Dan Fisher (El Reno), Sally Kern (Oklahoma City), Jason Murphey (Guthrie), Mike Ritze (Broken Arrow), and Mike Turner of Oklahoma City. Senators who made a perfect 100% score this year were Bill Brown and Nathan Dahm, both of Broken Arrow.

The next highest score was a 93% by Senator Anthony Sykes of Moore. Also scoring 93%, in the House, were Tom Newell of Seminole, and Paul Wesselhoft of Moore.

Earning a score of 90% were House members Bobby Cleveland (Slaughterville), Jon Echols (Oklahoma City), and Ken Walker of Tulsa. Senators who matched the 90% score were Mark Allen (Spiro), and Rob Standridge of Norman.

One Senate member, Josh Brecheen of Coalgate made 83%. Three House members, Mark McCullough (Sapulpa), Lewis Moore (Arcadia), and Pam Peterson of Tulsa, all scored 80%, as did two senators, Patrick Anderson (Enid), and Wayne Shaw of Grove.

TOP LIBERALS

No legislators scored zero conservative this year, but the legislator with the lowest Conservative score was Susan Paddack, Senator from Ada, who scored a dismal 3%.

House members Cory Williams, a from Stillwater, and Richard Morrissette of Oklahoma City, managed a lowly 9%. Those scoring 10% conservative were House members Kay Floyd (Oklahoma City), and Emily Virgin of Norman. Scoring 13% were Mike Shelton (Oklahoma City) and Ben Sherrer (Chouteau) of the House and John Sparks of the Senate. Jeannie McDaniel (Tulsa) of the House, Constance Johnson (Forest Park) and Jabar Shumate (Tulsa) of the Senate earned 15% scores, with several legislators scoring 16%. They were House members Mike Brown (Fort Gibson), and Kevin Matthews (Tulsa), and Senators Randy Bass (Lawton), Sean Burrage (Claremore), Jerry Ellis (Valliant), and Charles Wyrick of Fairland.

A Republican Senator from Stillwater made the Top Liberals list this year, Jim Halligan. He scored 20% to round out the Top Liberals list.

A description of the bills used for this year's ratings, a list of the all legislators with their vote on each of the ten bills, their total score for this year, and their Cumulative Average including scores from previous years, is available by clicking the box labeled "How conservative is your legislator?" in the upper right corner of our home page.