Wednesday, July 20, 2022
A notable collection of missed and some well placed liberal votes placed Logan County's legislative delegation at the top of one of the state's most liberal legislative groups according to a just-released, legislative scoring tally on Monday.
Published annually by The Oklahoma Constitution newspaper, The Conservative Index measures legislators conservatism or lack thereof. On Monday, Constitution readers were offered a preview of the 2022 Index via the paper’s online platform.
Known for its simplistic, transparent style of grading just 10 votes, assigning a score of 10 for a “conservtive” vote, a score of zero for a “liberal” vote, and a score of three to a missed vote, The Index has become viewed as the gold standard of conservatism by many of the state’s grassroots conservatives. It is regularly featured in Republican primary campaigns as a candidates attempt to prove their conservatism or their opponent’s lack of the same.
The Index provides readers with two scores for each legislator: the first, the legislator’s score for the session; and, a second, the legislator’s lifetime average on The Index.
The 2022 Results
The 2022 Index grades Oklahoma’s current lawmakers on issues ranging from the state’s recent abortion ban; to prohibiting bilogical males from utilizing womens’ rooms in public schools; and, banning private groups from financing Oklahoma’s public elections—Oklahoma lawmakers’ response to the 2020 election controversies during which Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg alledgedly financed the placement of ballot drop boxes in predominantly Democrat-voting precincts to the determinant of rural, Republican-voting areas.
Grading on a scale of zero, a perfect liberal score, to 100, the perfect conservative score, Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated Legislature weighed in at a 60 for their votes during the 2022 legislative session. The average Republican posted a score of 70 while the prototypical Democrat registered an average of 15.
The low Democrat score appears to reflect the ongoing trend of Oklahoma’s legislative Democrats moving rapidly leftward as their House and Senate caucuses have become almost exclusively dominated by urban, liberal members. Only one Democrat, Senator JJ Dosset of Owasso, who represents a historically Republican district, scored higher than a 50. Dosset posted a 73, making him the 14th most conservative Senator in the 48-member Senate.
Perry Senator Scored as One of The Most Liberal
Democrat Dosset’s score significantly outpaced that of Logan County’s foremost Senator, Republican Chuck Hall. Hall, of Perry, who represents most of Logan County, posted a score of 69 ranking him 31st out of the Senate’s 48 members. Only nine of the Senate’s 40 Republicans posted a lower score.
Hall was docked for his vote to create a new grant program to subsidize airline costs. He was additionally penalized for not voting on three other graded votes including: “conservative” legislation to protect the firearms industry; a “liberal” bill that grants exemptions from Oklahoma’s open meetings act to certain institutions affiliated with higher education entities—which critics believe will allow these entities to avoid inspection of their records; and a “liberal” proposal to issue 19 million of new state debt; the new debt will finance work on the tunnels that underlie the state’s capitol complex.
Senate District 28’s Senator Zach Taylor of Seminole—a district that will include much of Southeastern Logan County after this election cycle—fared better. Taylor scored a 73 and placed 12th among Republican Senators. Taylor isn’t seeking re-election. His successor will be determined in the upcoming August 23rd runoff election.
Mize Misses Votes
Like Hall, Edmond State Representative Garry Mize, who represents much of Guthrie and South Logan County received low marks as a result of missing votes. Mize scored a 62. Only eight of the House’s 82 Republican members scored lower than Mize.
Notable votes missed by Mize include the legislation to prevent biological males from utilizing womens’ rooms in public schools; legislation to protect the firearms industry; and the “liberal” proposal to issue new government debt.
Mize, who is not seeking re-election, finishes his time in The Legislature with a lifetime conservative score from The Index of 64.
Pfeiffer, Talley and Wallace Rank Low
State Representatives John Pfeiffer of Orlando, John Talley of Stillwater and Kevin Wallace of Wellston, continue to reside near the bottom of The Index’s indices.
With a score of 69, Wallace, who represents Meridian and a significant swath of eastern Logan County, ranked 48th out of 82 Republicans. Wallace’s lifetime score on The Index now sits at 53 which is among the lowest of the Republican members.
Talley, the representative for the Coyle, Langston and areas east of Guthrie, scored a 63 and ranked 60th out of the 82 Republicans. With a lifetime score of 51, Talley is tied with Duncan Representative Marcus McEntire as the 2nd-most-liberal Republican in the House. With the impending retirement of the chamber’s most liberal Republican, Tulsa Representative Carol Bush, Talley and McEntire are set to compete for the honor as the House’s most liberal Republican member—according to The Index.
Talley’s low score resulted from casting four “liberal” votes and missing the vote on House Bill 3702: a proposal to prevent access to child pornography or obscene materials from or through school libraries. The legislative journal shows Talley to have been present in the House during the day of this vote; but, he did not cast a vote on House Bill 3702.
Pfeiffer, who represents areas north of Guthrie, including the county’s panhandle and the communities of Crescent, Marshall, Mulhall and Orlando, posted the lowest 2022 score of the Logan County delegation. With his score of 56, Pfeiffer was the House’s 6th-most-liberlal Republican during the 2022 session. Pfeiffer’s lifetime score from The Index also sits at a 56 making him the 11th-most-liberal Republican member overall.
Pfeiffer cast three liberal votes and missed three others. His notable misses included the bill that updated the state’s trigger law to make abortion illegal and the legislaiton that prevented biological males from entering into womens’ rooms in public schools.
Wallace recently survived a scare from political newcomer Ryan Dixon of Meeker. Dixon challenged Wallace in the June 28th primary. Wallace, who chairs the powerful House Appropriations Committee, entered the race with a campaign warchest of $200,000 but managed just 56% of the vote and lost the Logan County vote to Dixon.
Like Wallace, John Talley held off his 2022-election challenger, Stillwater’s Brice Chaffin. Talley defeated Chaffin by a close 52% to 48% margin. Like Wallace, Talley lost the Logan County vote to his challenger.
Dixon and Chaffin challenged the two incumbents from the right and both made reference to The Index as they attempted to document the incumbents’ lack of conservatism; however, those candidates were limited to the use of the indices from the previous years as the 2022 scores had not yet been released as of the time of the June 28th primary.
Pfeiffer was unopposed in this year’s election cycle.
The Lone Conservative
Though most Logan County legislators fell well under the Republican average of 70, those Logan County residents who hold to conservative views will perhaps have one reason for optimism: Representative Denise Crosswhite-Hader, whose recently re-drawn district will cover much of Southwest Logan County, received a score of 80 and was the fifth-most-conservative member of the House. Crosswhite-Hader will represent the Cashion community and much of South Logan County that lies west of Highway 74.
Readers will find The Index by visiting OklahomaConstitution.com.
