The 2020 Sheeple Index Shows Lawmakers Blindly Following The Leader
Legislators Serve A Special Interest Agenda
Providence, RI- The Gaspee Project published its annual Sheeple Index, which measures how often lawmakers vote in lock-step with leadership in support of a special interest agenda.
In 2019, the last full General Assembly session with the current crop of lawmakers, 27 of 38 Senators voted over 90% of the time with the Senate President, all but one a Democrat. On the House side, 52 of 75 Representatives voted 90% of the time as did the Speaker, all but one a Democrat.
“It’s amazing how virtually no independent thinking goes on up there on Smith Hill,” commented Clay Johnson, Gaspee’s Chairman. “The level of blindly following-the-leader – and not representing the diverse interests of their constituents – should be alarming to every Rhode Islander.”
Unfortunately, East Greenwich is represented by two lawmakers who, overall, were the most likely to automatically vote the way they were told in 2019:
Senator Bridget Valverde, a Democrat, had the worst score in the Senate on all bills, as she voted the exact same as leadership 99.5% of the time. On bills that were not unanimous Valverde towed the line 98.4% of the time (3rd worst)
Representative Justine Caldwell, also a Democrat, was among the least likely to exhibit independence, casting partisan votes 99.1% of the time (3rd worst) on non-unanimous bills and 99.3% of the time (8th worst) on all bills.
Republican Representative Robert Quattrocchi was the most independent-thinking voter in the House and the entire General Assembly voting just 27.0% (#1) of the time with Democrat leadership on non-unanimous bills and only 44.9% (#1) on all bills. Republican Senator Elaine Morgan was the most independent-voter in the Senate, at 31.8% (#1) and 74.7% (#2) respectively.
On the Gaspee Project’s interactive web page – GaspeeProject.com/Sheeple – voters can see all the data from 2016 – 2019, as well as special views for the House and Senate in 2019. Viewers can sort, filter, and search along any criteria they choose. 2020 votes will be included once the current session ends.