Thoughts on the Conservative Index
By Steve Byas
In the Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote, "I would not have ye ignorant, brethren." The old joke is that an old maid cited this verse, with the comma after ignorant removed so as to justify her single status. What I would like to do is address some of the persistent misinformation circulated about the Oklahoma Constitution's Conservative Index. Like Paul, I would not have you ignorant.This year, we published the 35th edition of the Conservative Index, rating our state legislators. To quote our front page story from our summer edition, "A favorable vote on these issues represents a belief in limited government, individual liberty, free enterprise, constitutional government, and traditional standards."
A common misunderstanding (it could be an intentional distortion, but I will, for sake of argument, presume that some folks just do not understand) is that some of the issues on the Conservative Index represent a favorable vote on limited government, and another on free enterprise, and maybe another deals with traditional standards. We usually get this from some misguided soul who quakes in fear that we are going to force "morality" on him or her, under the guise of "traditional standards."
Actually, we believe that limited government and individual liberty are among the traditional standards upon which our constitutional republic is based. We believe that government should be limited in its power and scope, and should not be attacking traditional standards found in society. Liberals often err in confusing government with society, thinking that if one is not for something being done by government, we must be opposed to it. On the other side, there are those who err by confusing society with government. Christians, for example, should be free to advocate for their lifestyles without being attacked by the heavy hand of government. Some counterfeit libertarians even argue that Christians should get off the streets and into their buildings, and otherwise keep their mouths shut.
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a restriction upon the government, not religious groups. A Christian, a Jew, or whatever is just as free to comment upon governmental activities as any other American citizen. For some odd reason, some misinterpret the First Amendment to say that Christians and other religious people should just shut up. I even saw someone post on Facebook that Justice Antonin Scalia should not be allowed to serve on the Supreme Court because Scalia believes in the Bible!
Other misinformation spread is that the Conservative Index is the "OCPAC Index." I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard this false statement. Al Gerhart, who is the leader of the Sooner Tea Party, recently commented in his newsletter, "Everyone remembers earlier this year when OCPAC and Charlie Meadows dropped the ball in choosing the bills for scoring the Oklahoma Constitution/OCPAC Conservative Index. The scores were a disaster as a result, people like Rep. Glen Mulready received high scores while long time liberty and conservative heroes like Rep. Mike Ritze were labeled RINOs."
At least Gerhart included the Oklahoma Constitution as part of the Conservative Index. Some just say "the OCPAC Index." Let me say it again, as I have enough times that even Al Gerhart should now understand it: The Conservative Index is the product of the Oklahoma Constitution newspaper. The folks at OCPAC (the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee) are only the judges of the issues presented to them by the staff of the Oklahoma Constitution.
This is how it works. The Oklahoma Constitution takes suggestions from conservative leaders, then narrows the list to about twenty votes before submitting them to a vote of the membership of OCPAC, to narrow it further to ten key votes. So, they are judges. It is no more the Index of OCPAC than the judges of the Miss America pageant own the Miss America pageant.
Charlie Meadows does not choose the bills for the Conservative Index. He has one vote and one vote only, no more than any other member of OCPAC. For several years, Charlie Meadows was a columnist for the Oklahoma Constitution, writing many excellent opinion pieces. Charlie is to be commended for the work he has done in building OCPAC into a powerful force for conservatism in Oklahoma. But, he does not "select" the votes for the Index any more than any other judge we use in compiling our Conservative Index.
Catching complaints about the Conservative Index comes with the territory. Legislators have often complained over the years (when they get a low score). One state Senator once called me, complaining that we had him down "wrong" on a vote. When I checked on the Senate Journal, we had correctly listed him as voting liberal. After I explained this to him, he said, Well, that was that final vote, and that he had voted conservative on the earlier votes.
Another chronic complaint is that we knock off seven points (giving three) if a legislator is absent. For some reason, I thought we elected legislators to show up and vote. I fail to see why a legislator should be rewarded with a perfect score for being absent. If we did not dock legislators, they could just "hit the door," and avoid to even cast a vote. A specific example of a complaint (not by the representative, but by some of his supporters) is when a legislator lost points when absent because he was out helping constituents following the May 20th Moore tornado. After I checked out this complaint, I found that the law-maker had been absent on one vote on May 16th, four days before the tragic event. He was also absent in the week following the tornado.
Take State Rep. Mike Ritze, for another absentee legislator example. Doctor Ritze has been a solid conservative for the past few years, often appearing as a Top Conservative, and sporting an 83% cumulative average conservative score. Gerhart takes us to task because Ritze dipped to a 49% score this past session, as though past performance should guarantee a high score every year. Hey, even Babe Ruth did not hit a home run every time he batted. Did they say Babe Ruth is at the plate so we are going to mark him down as an automatic home run? Of course not. We score legislators on how they vote, or in Ritze's case this past session, on how he did not vote. We don't put them on autopilot. Ritze was absent on three votes used on the 2013 Conservative Index. I don't know why Ritze was absent. Am I supposed to track down every single legislator and decide if this or that absence was good enough? Can you imagine the flak we would catch if we decided which absences are OK, and which ones causes the loss of points? What about a law-maker whose wife was giving birth, or whose child was in the hospital? What about those who just don't show up, and no one knows where they are? Maybe they are involved in an important business deal. Maybe they just slept in.
The bottom line on Ritze and any other legislator is look at the votes we use, look how the legislator voted, and make your own judgment. I suspect that Ritze will be back on the Top Conservative list next year, but in the meantime, what are we supposed to do? Should we say, Whoa! Doctor Ritze has a bad score, let's throw the whole thing out! How do you think the other 148 members of the House and Senate would think about that?
Eight legislators made a perfect score of 100%. They managed to show up and vote on every single bill we rated, and they voted the conservative way. Should they not be rewarded for their great performance?
I was told by more than several persons that they did not personally like one or more of the legislators who made the Great Eight, therefore the Conservative Index is not valid. I suppose that we should throw the Index out because we don't like the way someone parts his hair next.
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