13 July 2008

Legislative regular session wrapup and rankings: Senators and Governor, 2008

This week, the final report until the next session, will be presented the scorecard for Senate members and governor for the 2008 session. Senators will be graded on their votes on 10 bills, seven of which passed both chambers. The highest score of 100 represents a perfect conservative/reform voting record, while the lowest score of 0 represents a perfect liberal/populist voting record. The 10 bills and their weighings are:

HB 939 – gives a raise from $45,000 to $75,000 to Public Service Commissioners; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

HB 1122 – extends the period of early voting; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent)

HB 1198 – makes the state able to judge and punish campaigns for “false” information; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

HB 1347 – sets up a scholarship program for vouchers to be used by students in New Orleans for any public or private school; a conservative/reform vote is for (15 percent)

SB 51 – permits storage of a gun in vehicles on commercial property; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

SB 672 – raises legislators’ base annual salaries from $16,800 to $37,500 and indexes them; a conservative/reform vote is against (20 percent)

SB 807 – makes it easier for franchising for cable television thus stimulating competition and reducing pricing; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

SB 61 – forces insurers to provide homeowner’s insurance to members of the military for which they provide vehicle insurance; a conservative/reform vote is against (5 percent)

SB 134 – allows certain classified employees to engage in political advocacy; a conservative/reform vote is against (5 percent)

SB 653 – increases money to senators for staffing and for legislative aides; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

(Last votes for passage were used. Since an absence is treated the same as a “nay” vote, unless a legislator requested a day of leave any votes for which he was absent was counted as such. For those who did request leave, their scores are adjusted by the votes they missed.)

Below is listed the rank and scores in descending order of senators, with their party affiliations. The Senate was notable for producing some stunning turnarounds in voting behavior by some veterans. Sen. John Smith went from being one of the lowest scorers in the House last year to one of the highest in the Senate. Not quite as dramatic but still significant were the swings from liberalism/populism to conservatism/reformism by Sens. John Alario and Nick Gautreaux (perhaps as the latter became a Gov. Bobby Jindal floor leader). By contrast among Republicans, Sen. Mike Michot (also a Jindal floor leader) dropped from a high scorer to below the Senate average, while Sen. Sherri Smith Cheek added almost as many points as Michot lost.

This lead to some unexpected partisan mixture at the top and bottom of the scale. The four highest scorers at 80, Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy, Neil Riser, and Mike Walsworth, and Democrat Sen. Willie Mount, included the Democrat Mount. In fact, there were a majority of Democrats among the top 13 scorers. While the two lowest scorers, Sens. Cheryl Gray and Eric LaFleur, at 15 and 16, respectively, are Democrats, the next two, at 20, are Republican Sens. Robert Adley and Dale Erdey (although Adley switched from Democrat within the past year). Pres. Joel Chaisson and Pres. Pro-Tem Sharon Weston Broome, Democrats both, scored below the Senate and Democrat averages.

As a whole, the Senate was below the House in scores, averaging about a 43. Partisans also scored below their House counterparts, with Republicans at around 52 and Democrats close to 39 on average. Taken together, it seems that despite the 2007 elections being billed primarily about reform and Republican gains expecially in the House, the legislature did not seem to behave in the regular session in the direction of reform or become any more conservative.

Cassidy 80 Republican
Mount 80 Democrat
Riser 80 Republican
Walsworth 80 Republican
Amedee 77 Democrat
Gautreaux, N 75 Democrat
Long 70 Republican
Quinn 70 Republican
Smith, J 70 Democrat
Alario 65 Democrat
Cheek 65 Republican
Hebert 65 Democrat
McPherson 65 Democrat
Crowe 60 Republican
Donahue 60 Republican
Heitmeier 60 Democrat
Kostelka 60 Republican
Morrish 55 Republican
Shaw 55 Republican
Martiny 50 Republican
Shepherd 50 Democrat
Cravins 45 Democrat
Duplessis 45 Democrat
Dupre 45 Democrat
Thompson 45 Democrat
Gautreaux, B 40 Democrat
Michot 40 Republican
Chaisson 35 Democrat
Jackson, L 35 Democrat
Nevers 35 Democrat
Broome 30 Democrat
Dorsey 25 Democrat
Marionneaux 25 Democrat
Murray 25 Democrat
Adley 20 Republican
Erdey 20 Republican
LaFleur 16 Democrat
Gray 15 Democrat

Finally, Jindal himself was scored, using the seven items utilized for scoring the chambers that passed both of them, where for him a vote for was signing the bill or allowing it to become law without his signature and a vote against was vetoing the bill. The weighings to compute Jindal’s score were HB 939 10 percent, HB 1122 5 percent, HB 1198 15 percent, HB 1347 20 percent, SB 51 10 percent, SB 672 25 percent, and SB 807 15 percent.

Jindal scored an 85, voting in the liberal/populist direction only on the anti-free-speech HB 1198, higher than all Senators and almost all House members.

05 July 2008

Legislative regular session wrapup and rankings: Representatives, 2008

This week will be presented in addition to the governor’s decisions regarding bills the scorecard for House members for the 2008 regular session. Representatives will be graded on their votes on 10 bills, seven of which passed both chambers. The highest score of 100 represents a perfect conservative/reform voting record, while the lowest score of 0 represents a perfect liberal/populist voting record. The 10 bills and their weighings are:

HB 939 – gives a raise from $45,000 to $75,000 to Public Service Commissioners; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

HB 1122 – extends the period of early voting; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent)

HB 1198 – makes the state able to judge and punish campaigns for “false” information; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

HB 1347 – sets up a scholarship program for vouchers to be used by students in New Orleans for any public or private school; a conservative/reform vote is for (15 percent)

SB 51 – permits storage of a gun in vehicles on commercial property; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

SB 672 – raises legislators’ base annual salaries from $16,800 to $37,500 and indexes them; a conservative/reform vote is against (20 percent)

SB 807 – makes it easier for franchising for cable television thus stimulating competition and reducing pricing; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

HB 34 – shortens the hours that polls are open on election day; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent)

HB 436 – prevent rolling forward of property tax millages after 90 days and a governing authority may vote to dos o only once; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent)

HB 1022 – causes forfeiture of pension benefits paid by government for those convicted of a felony related to their official duties; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

(Last votes for passage were used. Since an absence is treated the same as a “nay” vote, unless a legislator requested a day of leave any votes for which he was absent was counted as such. For those who did request leave, their scores are adjusted by the votes they missed.)

Below is listed the rank and scores in descending order of representatives, with their party affiliations. Rep. Cameron Henry ended up being the only “perfect” conservative/reformer and, not surprisingly Republicans take the top spots, all but of them two freshmen or close to it. Surpisingly, however, some Democrats score fairly high, Rep. Neil Abramson scored well into conservative/reformer territory at 75 but perhaps a bigger surprise was Rep. Walker Hines at 70 who filed several pieces of legislation (which went nowhere) straight out of the hard left wing of the national Democrats. Warhorse Democrat Rep. Jim Fannin joined him at that level, perhaps changed by his new statuts as head of the House Appropriations Committee.

Nobody scored as a perfect “liberal/populist” but Speaker Pro-Tem Karen Peterson and Rep. A.B. Franklin did their best at 10. Democrats thoroughly dominated this end of the spectrum with holdover (and converted Democrat) Rep. Ernest Wooton and newcomer Rep. Nickie Monica scoring the lowest of the Republicans at 35. Speaker Jim Tucker tumbled from past high scores to, at 60, below the GOP average.

Party averages reflected the division. The average GOP score was about 62 while the average Democrat score was around 41. Interestingly, as a whole the most conservative group in the House was the pair of independents, holdover Rep. Joel Robideaux and newcomer Rep. Dee Richard, who between them averaged 65. As a whole, the House averaged a little over 51.

Next week will be reviewed scores of senators and the governor.

Henry 100 Republican
Ligi 95 Republican
Ponti 90 Republican
Talbot 90 Republican
Pearson 85 Republican
Geymann 80 Republican
Guinn 80 Republican
Katz 80 Republican
Lorusso 80 Republican
Abramson 75 Democrat
Kleckley 75 Republican
Burns, T 70 Republican
Champagne 70 Democrat
Chandler 70 Democrat
Cortez 70 Republican
Fannin 70 Democrat
Guillory, M 70 Democrat
Hines 70 Democrat
LaBruzzo 70 Republican
Little 70 Republican
Perry 70 Republican
Robideaux 70 Independent
Smith, J 70 Republican
Barras 65 Democrat
Burford 65 Republican
Burns, H 65 Republican
Connick 65 Republican
Howard 65 Republican
Lopinto 65 Republican
Smiley 65 Republican
Templet 65 Republican
Danahay 60 Democrat
Morris 60 Republican
Richard 60 Independent
Richardson 60 Republican
Trahan 60 Republican
Tucker 60 Republican
Waddell 60 Republican
Badon, A 55 Democrat
Badon, B 55 Democrat
Billiot 55 Democrat
Carter 55 Republican
Cromer 55 Republican
Ellington 55 Democrat
Greene 55 Republican
Hazel 55 Republican
Jackson, M 55 Democrat
Lambert 55 Republican
Mills 55 Democrat
Montoucet 55 Democrat
Pugh 55 Republican
Schroder 55 Republican
Simon 55 Republican
Guillory, E 50 Democrat
Hoffman 50 Republican
Nowlin 50 Republican
Pope 50 Republican
Richmond 50 Democrat
White 50 Republican
Carmody 45 Republican
Chaney 45 Democrat
Foil 45 Republican
Hill 45 Democrat
Hutter 45 Republican
Jones, S. 45 Democrat
LeBas 45 Democrat
McVea 45 Republican
St. Germain 45 Democrat
Dove 44 Republican
Anders 40 Democrat
Arnold 40 Democrat
Downs 40 Republican
Harrison 40 Republican
Henderson 40 Democrat
Morrell 40 Democrat
Roy 40 Democrat
Wilmott 40 Republican
Monica 35 Republican
Armes 35 Democrat
Gisclair 35 Democrat
Hardy 35 Democrat
Smith, G 35 Democrat
Smith, P 35 Democrat
Williams 35 Democrat
Wooton 35 Republican
Baldone 30 Democrat
Doerge 30 Democrat
Edwards 30 Democrat
Honey 30 Democrat
Jackson, G 30 Democrat
Johnson 30 Democrat
LaFonta 30 Democrat
Leger 30 Democrat
Marchand 30 Democrat
Ritchie 30 Democrat
Barrow 25 Democrat
Burrell 25 Democrat
Dixon 25 Democrat
Norton 25 Democrat
Aubert 15 Democrat
Gallot 15 Democrat
Jones, R. 15 Democrat
Franklin 10 Democrat
Peterson 10 Democrat