Take a cursory glance at the results of the Foundation’s 2016 Freedom Index, and you might make the mistake of thinking that our scorecard exists to promote Republicans and bash Democrats.
This session, the Index’s top ten legislators are all Republicans, with Rep. David Adkins repeating as champion. The bottom ten are all Democrats, with Rep. Christine Trujillo landing at rock-bottom.
But there are 112 member of New Mexico’s legislature. Examine all the scores. You’ll find Democrats who clustered near the top — e.g., Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, Rep. Dona Irwin, Rep. Patricia Lundstrom. Republicans who voted in rather disappointing fashion include Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort and Rep. David Gallegos.
Check your legislators’ scores, as well as their votes on individual bills, and let them know what you think about what you found. It’s an election year, and lawmakers should know why you’ll be voting for or against them in November.
I wish I could check my legislator’s scores but the index is incomprehensible. I would like to post the info but it does not recognize that the untutored in data analysis, such as myself, have no context to be able to decipher the numbers.
For instance, take Monica Youngblood’s data: what does these numbers mean? 56 = possible; 74.1 = weighted; 27 – export.
I should think a simpler way might be considered when offering your info to the general public. Since there are 112 legislators, why not simply show that Monica stands i at number X position between 1 and 112 — 1 being the most concerned with freedom.
As it now stands, the numbers are of no help whatsoever to someone like me. I believe the general public would be vastly interested in where their legislators stand. But they don’t know if from this chart.
Sincerely,
Sylvia Bokor
Sylvia,
I apologize if this is confusing. Rep. Youngblood could have attained a total of 56 points. She voted on bills that we weighted +8 or -8 and correct votes added up to a total of 56. She lost some points and gained others adding up to 27 points. Not voting results in a score of zero (better than a bad vote but not as good as voting the “right” way.” She obviously performed well although not at the absolute top. The weighted average is 74.1 and I believe that means that she voted correctly 74.1 percent of the time overall.
You can also click on Youngblood’s name or that of any legislator to find out which bills she voted on and how each vote factored into her or any other legislator’s score.
This is a very good index. You can click on the names a see how they voted on passed legislation. Gives you a good idea of where they really stand behind the D or R label.
Good Job.