Fort Hamilton Station, NY (10/05/11) The Conservative Party released its ratings for the 2011 legislative session today in order to keep the electorate apprised of how their legislators voted on 25 key bills acted upon in the current year.

The Conservative Party tracks legislation throughout the session, issues support and opposition memos, and determines, at an executive committee meeting, which key issues, including spending, crime, education, nanny state legislation and various other topics that affect the lives of New Yorkers, will be used. “We believe that it is necessary to keep the public informed of these key votes and let the taxpayers be aware of how elected officials spend our money. We often look beyond the budget bills to consider how other legislation effects school budgets, health coverage and how unfunded mandates increase the cost of doing business in New York,” said Mike Long, State Chairman.

“A review of the twenty-five bills we used in this year’s ratings will show voters where the legislature is erroneous and some show where they have helped New Yorkers”, said Long. “The ratings give voters a scorecard on how their individual legislator voted and how many times they force local governments – reeling from unfunded mandates – to raise taxes or nanny state proposals that interfere in how we choose to live our lives,” Long continued.

“Last November, New York State voters sent a record 17 new Members to the Assembly, and two of the newest Members scored a 92%, the highest score in either house,” Chairman Long noted,. “the 17 new Members helped turn New York’s Assembly a little more to the right and eliminated Speaker Silver’s two-thirds majority by one vote.

The Members of both Houses appear to have listened to the voters as they increased their conservative ratings. This year the overall New York State Senate ratings were 51.22% up 13% from 2010. The 36.5% overall rating of the New York State Assembly was up 9.28% from the 2010 ratings. They still have a long way to go, but both Houses have tried to stop the hemorrhaging of our tax dollars. In the Senate, Conservatives endorse 1 Democrat and 32 Republican who averaged a 65.57 % rating up slightly from last year. The Senate Democrats averaged 33.125% up almost 20% from 2010. In the Assembly, the 6 Democrats and 44 Republicans with Conservative endorsement averaged a 66.32%; the 51 Republican members averaged a 69.25% while the 99 Democrats averaged a 19.55%, up 8.89%.

“As long as voters continue to hold Legislators responsible, we believe New York will become a business friendly place that people no longer have to flee in order to save on taxes,” Long concluded.

(Ratings are online at https://www.cpnys.org/node/63. If you have a problem downloading, please call:
718-921-2158 or 518-356-7882 for a copy of the Ratings. Thank you.)