VIEW: 18-33; Poor Legislative Record

VIEW FROM HERE
By Bob McDowell (Born Neil Carson)
Number 18-33
POOR LEGISLATIVE RECORD Week of
2018/08/13
In Oklahoma City there is a, basically Republican, quarterly
newspaper,
Oklahoma Constitution, that each year in the Summer issue following the
annual
Session of the Legislature publishes a summary of the individual voting
records of
each of the 48 Senators and 101 Representatives. The record is of their
votes on
ten of the bills making it through to law chosen from a list of suggestions
by the
readerships submitted to the membership of OCPAC (Oklahoma Conservative
Political Action Committee) for selection. Some bills (4) have a 'Yes' vote
considered 'Conservative while 6 were considered 'Liberal' this year. The
member receives 10 points for a 'Yes' vote, 3 for missing a vote, and zero
for a
'Liberal' vote. In my opinion, this arrives at the easiest way to evaluate
the
members' service.
The paper lists the members in each house alphabetically and shows
name,
city, missed votes, liberal votes, current year record, and cumulative
record.
Thus first year 'freshmen' members' records will be the same. For the last
few
years it has been my policy to re-sort the lists according to voting record
in
current session followed by cumulative record. This makes it easier to track
the
progress, or decline, of individual members. Frankly, without computer to '
cut&paste' it would be practically impossible to do this re-sort. It seems
to me
that it might be easier to track records if the number of 'Yes' votes were
included in the presentation and, hopefully, will be added by me next year
in my
2019 re-sort. The re-sort only includes the Republicans with the addition of
the
most conservative recorded Democrat shown for comparison purposes.
This year Senator Nathan Dahm, Broken Arrow, again leads in the
Senate
with a solid '100' record, followed closely by Anthony Sykes, Moore, with a
93, having missed one vote. If you approve and are one of either of their
constituents approving, it would be well to call either or their office and
so state.
Until January of 2015 there was a toll-free number for the Senate when it
was,
surprisingly, disconnected. The highest rated Democrat was Randy Bass,
Lawton,
with a 49 rating placing him nineteenth of 48 in the Senate. Some overall
improvement over 2017 was noticed, but still is somewhat lower than previous
years. 'Tail-end charley' again was Ervin Yen, OKC, with a miserable 13,
meaning 1 conservative and 1 missed vote.
Turning to the House we find two with 100 records: Jason Murphy,
whose
cumulative is also 100, and Tom Gann, Inola. Right up there is Chuck Strohm,
Jenks, at 93, having missed one vote and Sean Roberts, Hominy, and Jeff
Coody,
Grandfield, with one liberal vote each. Top conservative voting Democrat
turned
out to be Johnny Tadlock, Idabel, at 46 and cumulative at 46 or 4
conservative
votes and 2 non-votes. He ranked number 36 of 101 House members. "Tail end
charley" turned out to be Tess Teague, Chocktaw, with a rather poor rating
of 9,
or just 3 missed votes and 7 liberal votes, making her considered for RINO
status, along with probably 30 or 40 above in ratings. For complimenting or
complaining there is a toll-free number for the House of 1-800-522-8502
answered by the House operators who with the member's name will plug you
right through. You will find the 'administrative assistants' in any of their
offices
helpful, friendly, and the "ones who get things done" that you may need,
rather
than bothering the member. At least that has been my experience!!
In my opinion, my own Senator, Nathan Dahm, is the most outstanding
and has my pride in his performance. He is noted as being the ONLY member
of either house the reads EVERY bill or will not vote in favor of it,
regardless.
Unfortunately it appears that far too many are passed out with sufficient
time to
really be able to read each and every one. The same is true for Congress.
And
too many bills are far too wordy, often consisting of up to 1,000 pages. By
comparison, the bill for the 'FairTax' is, if memory serves correct, is no
more
than four pages, if that.
Along that line, the US Constitution can be read in no more than one
hour and is easy to understand, being devoid of 'legalese". Even the first
100
years of Amendments were mostly one sentence. The Oklahoma Constitution
is reported to be the longest of the 50 and is not availble in soft cover
books.
Legislative members from Missouri and Pennsylvania have in the past given me
a copy of their State Constitutions and they are 'soft cover' about one-half
inch thick, and include the US Constitution. Maybe it is time for an
Oklahoma
Constitutional Convention to re-right and reduce to size publish and
distribute!!!
END
Composed August 7, 2018
Robert W. McDowell, Jr. 841
Lynwood Lane
918-451-1051 Broken Arrow OK
74011-8608
Email: abdmcfpi@localnet.com