Recently the California Republican Assembly (of which I served as State President from 1995-1997) released its latest comprehensive scorecard of the California State Legislature, for last year. Below is the both the release from the CRA, as well as link to review the entire Scorecard and see how your elected legislators fared. I want to express a hearty congratulations to the five GOPers who got a perfect score from the CRA — former Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Senator Mimi Walters, and former Senators Sam Aanestad, Dave Cogdill and now-Congressman Jeff Denham. It is worthy of note that you could not get a perfect score if you voted to confirm scoundrel Abel Maldonado as Lt. Governor. I guess I also need to throw the "raspberry award" to our friend Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who managed to wrack up, from CRA’s perspective, the lowest score of any legislative Republican.
You can see the entire scorecard here.
2010 CRA Scorecard Rates State Legislators
Only 5 Legislators Receive 100% Ratings; 55 Get Zeros
The annual Legislative Scorecard published by the California Republican Assembly is out and only five of 120 legislators serving in Sacramento received perfect 100% ratings – a dramatic decrease from 2009 when thirteen received perfect scores.
“It’s disappointing that only five legislators would stand firm on conservative positions,” said CRA President Celeste Greig. “But we congratulate the Assembly Members and Senators who received perfect scores. They continue to demonstrate their commitment to Republican principles and should be thanked.”
Specifically, President Greig noted that Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was the only member of the Assembly with a perfect score, while Senators Sam Aanestad, Dave Cogdill, Jeff Denham and Mimi Walters all received perfect scores in the Senate. CRA’s scorecard is derived from votes cast on diverse bills ranging from increased fees on lobster fishermen to punishing employers by criminalizing wage disputes.
CRA Parliamentarian Tom Hudson, who compiled the scorecard, noted that there were elements that made this year’s scorecard difficult.
“The confirmation of Abel Maldonado as Lieutenant Governor was a very complicated vote for Republicans,” Hudson noted. “CRA was right to oppose the confirmation of tax-raising Senator Maldonado, who had a terrible record in the Legislature. However, many Republican legislators were motivated to get him out of the State Senate so that he could be replaced with a better Senator.” As a result, the vote for Maldonado does not carry as much negative weight as other bad votes in this year’s scorecard, he added.
The scorecard also focuses on other bills which may not seem important on the surface, but clearly demonstrate the divisions within the Democrat and Republican caucuses.
The total number of zeros on this year’s scorecard decreased for the second year in a row from 56 to 55.
“Democrats seem to be feeling the pressure from their constituents,” added Greig. “While they are still very partisan, they’re votes are changing very slightly.”
The highest scoring Democrat on the CRA scorecard was Senator Lou Correa who received a 35%. On the Assembly side, Assemblywoman Alyson Huber was the highest scoring Democrat with a paltry 24%.
“As usual, the highest scoring Democrats rank far lower than the lowest ranking Republicans,” said Greig.
Of the 120 legislators, the lowest scoring Republican was Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who received a score of 63%, with Senator Tom Harman the lowest scorer in the Senate at 81%. Most notable is that seven Republican Assembly Members had lower scores than Harman. (Senators Emmerson and Blakeslee were not scored this year because of the complicated circumstances surrounding their special elections to the Senate. However, both would have scored well below Senator Harman’s 81%.)
The Assembly overall voted far more liberal than the Senate. The Average score for the Assembly was 1.96% for Democrats and 80.68% for Republicans, while in the Senate it was 5.18% for Democrats and 92.02% for Republicans.
You can see the entire scorecard here.