The 2017 RINO INDEX
of Oklahoma Legislators
of Oklahoma Legislators
2017 Oklahoma RINO Index
The 2017 RINO Index is really simple this year, a No vote is good, a yes vote is bad. That is because we focus on what legislators do wrong, not what they should be doing which is representing their constituents and voting on the good legislation. The major impetus this year was raising taxes, raising fees, and preserving special interest tax credits so that all of the legislation that was bad needed a No vote. Each vote is worth five points, an E or Excused is a negative 2.5 points for missing the vote.
Of the 28 bills that made our decision list we had one senator that voted right every time, Senator Breechen. We threw out six bills to weed the list down to an even twenty bills, choosing bills that some of the good guys had other opinions on. That is a challenge because some of them were bad bills but the larger the list the more a bad vote is diluted. Originally we used ten bills but that leaves a lot of bad bills behind. Then there were two bills out of the batch that the Senate didn't vote on.
The higher the index number the more conservative the legislator. Anything below 70% is considered a RINO, Republican In Name Only.
This year's House version of the 2017 Oklahoma RINO Index was drawn from the same list of 28 bills that the Senate Index was drawn from, with one exception, one of the log rolled tax increases was added before the list was boiled down to twenty bills.
One legislator got all 29 votes right, Rep. Jason Murphey, next was Rep Tommy Hardin at three bad votes and two missed votes (half point each) and Rep. Mike Ritze at two bad votes and four missed votes, then Rep. Tom Gann at five bad votes and Rep Chuck Strohm with five bad votes and two missed votes.
| Key to scoring and details: Legislator District Party HB 1427 Out of State Tax Collection HB 1449 Electric Vehicle Tax HB 1837 Lottery % Raid HB 1845 REAL ID HB 2131 10% sales tax rebate scheme HB 2348 Deduction Freeze HB 2351 Tax Incentive Credit HB 2356 Franchise tax date move HB 2367 Sales tax collector clawback HB 2372 $1.50 cigarette tax increase HB 2387 OJA bonds HB 2389 Health Dept Bonds HB 2403 Tax Deduction Limit HB 2414 Log rolling 3 tax bill HB 2433 Car Sales Tax SB 38 Fee increase SB 120 Aerospace Tax Credit Extension SB 170 Income Tax Rate Cut Reversal SB 786 Soft on Crime bill SB 845 Smoking “fee” Bad votes Score
Why so many Democrats in the middle? Because they are so few and so out of power their strategy is to vote against tax increases and fee increases, something they normally would support. However, they didn't vote for these tax and fee increases so regardless of the motivation they were scored accurately.
The flip side is that the Republicans were hell bent on raising taxes and fees while continuing as many of the tax credits and even making new tax credits. So they rightfully earned their spot at the bottom of the Index.
There should be two files linked, the House Index in PDF format and the Senate Index in PDF format. Please share these far and wide, all we ask is that you attribute them to the Sooner Tea Party. |
