We’ve compared the scores of all incumbents in the 83rd Legislature compared what they scored in the 82nd session for taxpayers to see just who let them down the most.
You’ll notice several of this session’s biggest drops in the House were members who received praise for their efforts just two years ago to protect taxpayers. Among them are State Reps. Bill Callegari (R – Houston), Jim Murphy (R – Houston) and Paul Workman (R – Austin) who earned the distinction of Taxpayer Advocates and Taxpayer Champion, respectively.
Taxpayers in Rep. Tan Parker’s district (R – Flower Mound) should take special note of his 25-point drop on the 2013 Index during his first session as a Straus committee chairman. He previously scored an A+ in 2011.
In the Senate, the biggest drop belongs to Sen. Troy Fraser (R – Horseshoe Bay). He dropped a whopping 31.1 points from last session. Sen. Joan Huffman (R – Southside Place), a former Taxpayer Champion, was the second biggest drop. She fell 29.9 points after scoring a 66.5 in 2013.
The drop in scores from other incumbents may have others asking how they could have dropped so much, given how low they were already. Look no further than State Reps. Jim Keffer (R – Brownwood) or Byron Cook (R – Corsicana), who scored D’s on the last Index and still dropped 31.8 and 21.4 points in the 83rd, respectively.
Only six Republicans actually improved their score from last session. Reps. Bill Zedler (R – Arlington) improved 0.8 points, Van Taylor (R – Plano) improved 5.4 points, and Rep. Lance Gooden (R – Forney) improved 21.2 points, though Mr. Gooden’s journal statements on several key votes this session may cause his constituents to raise their eyebrows. Sen. Bob Deuell (R – Greenville) bumped up his score 4.9 points to finally get above a 50. Sen. Glenn Hegar (R – Katy) bumped his score up 5.6 points to get above passing. Sen. Craig Estes (R – Wichita Falls) had the biggest improvement of anyone in the Legislature with a 31.2-point gain, up to a 77.2 this time around.
Here’s a list of all non-freshmen Republicans along with their scores and differential from last session:
HOUSE
Legislator 2013 2011 Differential
Zerwas, John 25.3 77.0 -51.7
Callegari, William 39.0 89.9 -50.9
Aycock, Jimmie Don 36.2 79.9 -43.7
Otto, John 35.5 76.2 -40.7
Orr, Rob 49.1 89.6 -40.5
Geren, Charlie 37.0 76.5 -39.5
Workman, Paul 52.9 91.1 -38.2
Smith, Wayne 31.4 69.0 -37.6
Sheffield, Ralph 52.3 88.9 -36.6
Darby, Drew 35.7 72.0 -36.3
Pitts, Jim 29.7 64.9 -35.2
Murphy, Jim 50.6 85.5 -34.9
Riddle, Debbie 52.9 87.3 -34.4
Davis, Sarah 44.7 77.9 -33.2
Price, Four 41.6 74.1 -32.5
Huberty, Dan 49.4 81.8 -32.4
Bonnen, Dennis 60.0 91.9 -31.9
Keffer, Jim 35.3 67.1 -31.8
Lewis, Tryon 45.1 76.9 -31.8
Miller, Doug 46.9 78.6 -31.7
Larson, Lyle 39.0 69.2 -30.2
Morrison, Geanie 56.1 86.0 -29.9
Davis, John 29.7 56.9 -27.2
Hunter, Todd 51.0 77.9 -26.9
Sheets, Kenneth 68.4 95.0 -26.6
Anderson, Charles 58.9 85.4 -26.5
Harper-Brown, Linda 64.8 90.9 -26.1
Patrick, Diane 36.7 62.2 -25.5
Craddick, Tom 61.3 86.6 -25.3
King, Susan 46.4 71.5 -25.1
Parker, Tan 74.9 100.0 -25.1
Cook, Byron 42.0 66.1 -24.1
Harless, Patricia 50.2 73.9 -23.7
Crownover, Myra 48.7 72.2 -23.5
Kolkhorst, Lois 63.3 86.8 -23.5
Frullo, John 62.6 85.8 -23.2
Burkett, Cindy 65.4 88.1 -22.7
Branch, Dan 58.2 79.8 -21.6
Ritter, Allan 37.0 58.1 -21.1
Lavender, George 62.6 82.3 -19.7
Kuempel, John 52.2 71.2 -19.0
Phillips, Larry 75.1 93.2 -18.1
Perry, Charles 83.4 100.0 -16.6
Creighton, Brandon 84.3 100.0 -15.7
Elkins, Gary 72.8 88.2 -15.4
Flynn, Dan 86.3 100.0 -13.7
Hilderbran, Harvey 68.5 81.8 -13.3
King, Phil 87.0 100.0 -13.0
Gonzales, Larry 50.5 61.9 -11.4
Isaac, Jason 88.9 100.0 -11.1
Kleinschmidt, Tim 66.1 76.9 -10.8
Bohac, Dwayne 74.9 85.4 -10.5
Button, Angie Chen 75.4 84.4 -9.0
White, James 90.8 99.8 -9.0
Fletcher, Allen 81.0 89.9 -8.9
Lozano, J.M. 32.9 39.5 -6.6
Hughes, Bryan 92.5 98.8 -6.3
Smithee, John 66.5 70.0 -3.5
Simpson, David 94.8 96.7 -1.9
Carter, Stefani 90.0 91.2 -1.2
Laubenberg, Jodie 100.0 100.0 0.0
Zedler, William 100.0 99.2 0.8
Taylor, Van 99.9 94.5 5.4
Gooden, Lance 89.1 67.9 21.2
SENATE
Legislator 2013 2011 Differential
Fraser, Troy 55.4 86.5 -31.1
Huffman, Joan 66.5 96.4 -29.9
Carona, John 60.0 89.6 -29.6
Duncan, Robert 48.8 72.4 -23.6
Eltife, Kevin 58.8 79.1 -20.3
Schwertner, Charles 63.0 81.7 -18.7
Seliger, Kel 52.3 69.8 -17.5
Nelson, Jane 70.4 87.6 -17.2
Taylor, Larry 72.6 88.9 -16.3
Nichols, Robert 58.7 72.4 -13.7
Birdwell, Brian 90.8 100.0 -9.2
Hancock, Kelly 78.0 86.6 -8.6
Patrick, Dan 93.9 100.0 -6.1
Williams, Tommy 59.8 65.3 -5.5
Paxton, Ken 100.0 100.0 0.0
Deuell, Bob 53.1 48.2 4.9
Hegar, Glenn 72.8 67.2 5.6
Estes, Craig 77.2 46.1 31.2
Note: For comparison, 2011 Scores in the House are used for Sens. Hancock, Paxton, Schwertner, and Taylor.
