Another conservative group is out with ratings of the 84th Texas Legislature and they confirm many Texas Republicans are not what they claim to be on the campaign trail.
Young Conservatives of Texas today released the 21st installment of their ratings of the Texas Legislature. YCT has released their ratings following every legislative session since 1975. YCT’s ratings address the full spectrum of conservative issues, focusing on fiscal matters, social issues, gun rights, pro-life measures, and more.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R–Bedford) was the only legislator to score a perfect 100% on YCT’s report, which does not award any bonus points or extra credit to raise scores. Sen. Konni Burton (R–Colleyville) and Rep. Matt Rinaldi (R–Irving) earned the group’s “Rookie of the Year” awards, with both scoring a 98% on the ratings.
On the other hand, Rep. J.D. Sheffield (R–Gatesville) was the lowest scoring Republican, scoring just 33%, one point higher than the highest scoring House Democrat. The most liberal legislator according to YCT was Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D–Austin).
A number of legislators were identified on the group’s “dangerous trends” list for having a downward swing of 20 or more points compared to last session. At the top of the list was Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R–Southlake), whose score declined 29 points from a 92 in 2013 to a 63 in 2015. Before the 84th session, Capriglione betrayed his constituents by announcing his support for liberal Republican speaker Joe Straus. Following his vote for Straus, Capriglione proceeded to vote repeatedly with the Democrats and liberal Republicans in favor of unconstitutional legislation.
Young Conservatives of Texas is the state’s strongest and most effective conservative youth organization with chapters located at universities across the lone star state. The organization’s ratings this session track very similarly to Empower Texans’ Fiscal Responsibility Index, which focuses exclusively on fiscal and role-of-government issues. Both indexes have been corroborated by the independent research of Mark Jones of Rice University.
