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Understanding the Methodology of the Suffolk County Legislative Scorecard

Posted August 16, 2010 by Ted Hesson
Categories: Reports

On August 3, Long Island Wins released a legislative scorecard that showed that Suffolk County legislators largely missed the mark on votes that affected the middle class—including votes on immigration—in 2008-2009. The research for the scorecard was performed by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan think tank based in Manhattan.

In an August 13 column on Huffington Post, Drum Major Institute researcher Afton Branche explained the methodology used to produce grades for the legislators, and why it’s so important for the public to know the voting records of their elected officials, especially on issues that affect the growth of the middle class.

Here’s an excerpt:

The immigration debate goes local this week, following our Legislative Scorecard examining the Suffolk County Legislature’s record on key middle class issues. The Scorecard, released by Long Island Wins and the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, analyzed nine bills passed during the 2008-9 session and graded legislators based on their support for the middle class position. We found that a majority of the legislators consistently voted against the middle class on immigration; as a result, eleven out of eighteen received C grades and four received D grades.

A recent editorial in Long Island’s Times Beacon Record questioned the utility of focusing on (and critiquing) the records of individual lawmakers as a means to move forward on immigration policy. “Assigning ranks and publicly highlighting deficiencies is not the best way to win friends and influence people en route to an immigration solution.” But we can only begin to advocate for common sense immigration solutions when we identify the policies working against this agenda, and hold accountable the elected officials who voted for them. We believe better policy can be created when citizens know how their legislators voted on what matters most to them, and when legislators know their constituents are watching.

To read the rest of the post, click here.

Tags : dmi, drum major institute, suffolk, suffolk county legislative scorecard, suffolk legislature

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