The Republicans in the Alaska House are splintered, to be sure. Some of them defected to create a bipartisan coalition led by Democrats, while others stayed with a Republican minority that is now made up of 15 members.
But how they have vote is the real measure of where their politics are on the spectrum of Republican to Democrat.
On 65 contested votes through April 18, here are the percentages of times all members of the House voted with the predominant Republican caucus position. The “predominant Republican” threshold for this scoring was set for votes occurring when at least half of the Republican caucus took a position contrary to the Democrat-led majority caucus:
Cathy Tilton – 100.0%
George Rauscher – 98.3%
Lance Pruitt – 96.9%
Ben Carpenter – 96.9%
Dave Talerico – 95.4%
David Eastman – 96.5%
Colleen Sullivan-Leonard – 96.5%
Mark Neuman – 92.9%
Sharon Jackson – 92.2%
Josh Revak – 90.6%
Sara Rasmussen – 88.9%
Sarah Vance – 87.7%
DeLena Johnson – 86.1%
Kelly Merrick – 83.3%
Laddie Shaw – 75.4%
Then we come to the members of the Democrat-led majority. These are their scores of how often they vote with the Republican position on the same 65 contested votes:
Tammie Wilson – 41.5%
Bart LeBon – 33.9%
John Lincoln – 28.6%
Jennifer Johnston – 27.7%
Steve Thompson – 26.2%
Chuck Kopp – 24.6%
Gabrielle LeDoux – 18.5%
Louise Stutes – 10.8%
Gary Knopp – 9.5%
Chris Tuck – 8.3%
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins – 8.1%
Dan Ortiz – 6.5%
Geran Tarr – 6.2%
Matt Claman – 6.2%
Adam Wool – 4.6%
Andi Story – 4.6%
Bryce Edgmon – 4.6%
Grier Hopkins – 4.6%
Zack Fields – 3.13%
Ivy Spohnholz – 3.13%
Harriet Drummond – 3.08%
Neal Foster – 3.08%
Tiffany Zulkosky – 1.6%
Andy Josephson – 1.5%
Sara Hannan – 1.5%
Thank you for the “eye opener”. I didn’t see Micciche on either list, even though he swore to “represent” all constituents fairly. Isn’t that a surprise? The liberals seem to have taken over the Alaska legislature with fair (unfair) ease. Lots of food for thought there. Remember, Alaskans, when the next voting opportunity comes around.
Ben, I should have made it more clear that this is just the House. I didn’t analyze the Senate since it is controlled by the Republican caucus. -sd
Could you do the same report for the Senate ?
Of course, the turncoats are no surprise. And Chuck Kopp has been questionable for some time now. LeBon showed his true colors early. That surprised me a little after all he went through with the one felon vote debacle. The thing that has me puzzled is Tammie Wilson and Steve Thompson. What in the hell has happened to the Fairbanks contingent?
Fairbanks pols are traditionally more wacky. I think it was Dugan who pointed that out. One of the two times I agreed with him. (The other was when he challenged readers to come up with one thing Frank Murkowski ever accomplished. Actually, might have been the same piece.)
Wilson has been power hungry since 2009 when Hopkins beat her in a mayor’s race up in Fairbanks. She got appointed to the House by Governor Parnell. She stayed fairly conservative until she saw a chance to get a co-chair seat at head of Finance Committee. So for her, it’s only about a power. Her whole life’s ambition played out this session. Hope she enjoys the short tenure.
This kind of disloyalty won’t sit well up in North Pole and she will be replaced in 2020. Another RINO.
Thanks. Very useful. Please update when the final stats for the session are available. Some surprises. I did not know Johnston, LeBonn and Wilson are RINOs.
Thanks for the great list, this is good information to have.
All this proves is a more moderate approach is what will work and extremism is bound to fail.
This is a great list. You should re-order Dave Talerico. According to your numbers he should move down two places.
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