Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
April 17, 2008 issue
Story by Kathleen McFadden
The North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research has released its legislative rankings for 2007. The center ranks General Assembly members’ effectiveness every year based on responses to surveys from the legislators, from registered lobbyists and from members of the news media who cover state government.
These three groups were asked to rate each legislator’s effectiveness on the basis of participation in committee work, skill at guiding bills through committees and in floor debates, and general knowledge or expertise in special fields. The respondents also were asked to consider the respect that legislators command from their peers, his or her ethics, the political power they hold (by virtue of office, longevity, or personal skills), their ability to sway the opinions of fellow legislators, and their aptitude for the overall legislative process.
The center also ranks legislators’ attendance and roll call voting participation.
Center director Ran Coble says the center compiles the three sets of rankings to give citizens different ways to evaluate the performance of their legislators. He said, “The rankings of attendance and voting participation tell citizens how often their legislator was there to represent them. The effectiveness rankings tell citizens how effective their legislator was when he or she was there. The surveys hold a mirror up to the legislature, and the rankings are the reflection.”
This year’s rankings mark the 16th time the center has undertaken this survey. This year, 78 (66 percent) of 119 House members (one member resigned at the end of the session) responded to the center’s survey, as did 37 of the 50 Senators (74 percent), 187 of 614 registered lobbyists who regularly work in the legislature and who are based in North Carolina (30 percent) and 6 of 12 capital news correspondents (50 percent)—all well above accepted standards of statistical validity.
The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit research corporation created in 1977 to evaluate state government programs and to study public policy issues facing North Carolina. The center does not endorse candidates. The Center receives general operating support from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, with additional funding from nine other private foundations, 120 corporate contributors, and about 600 individual and organizational members.
Here’s how local legislators rated for 2007:
Senator Steve Goss—First Term
Effectiveness Rank: 39th out of 50
Attendance Rank: 10th (tie) out of 50, present on 98.23 percent of legislative days
Voting Participation Rank: 26th out of 50, voting on 99.44 percent of total votes
Representative Cullie Tarleton—First Term
Effectiveness Rank: 83rd out of 119
Attendance Rank: 25th (tie) out of 119, present on 98.26 percent of legislative days
Voting Participation Rank: 19th (tie) out of 119, voting on 99.79 percent of total votes
Senator Joe Sam Queen—Second (noncontiguous) Term
Effectiveness Rank: 30th out of 50
Attendance Rank: 10th (tie) out of 50, present on 98.23 percent of legislative day
Voting Participation Rank: 30th out of 50, voting on 99.18 percent of total votes
Representative Phillip Frye—Third Term
Effectiveness Rank: 100th out of 119
Attendance Rank: 1st (tie) out of 119, present on 100 percent of legislative days
Voting Participation Rank: 1st (tie) out of 119, voting on 100 percent of total votes