EXETER top-ranked delegation; NEWPORT last on 2016 Freedom Index

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 16, 2016
Only 3 Towns Scored in Positive Territory; 16 Cities & Towns Below General Assembly Average

Providence, RI — Following yesterday’s release of its annual Freedom Index and Legislator Scorecard, the nonpartisan Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today published a 2016 ranking of the General Assembly delegations from the Ocean State’s 39 cities and towns. The Exeter delegation of House and Senate lawmakers, based on their individual floor-votes, was the highest ranked in the state, while the Newport delegation ranked lowest.

EXETER’s top-rated score of +19.37 by its delegation, consisting of Representatives Price and Costa, and Senator Morgan, was higher than the General Assembly’s overall score of negative (-54.1). During the 2016 legislative session, the Exeter lawmakers generally voted to advance freedom in the Ocean State.

Sen. Elaine J. Morgan (R) of district 34 in Exeter scored a +23.73 overall on the 2016 Freedom Index, while Rep. Doreen Costa (R) scored a +20.8 and Rep. Justin Price (R) scored a +13.60.

Conversely, NEWPORT’s score of (-68.5) by its delegation of Representatives Carson and Abney, and Senators Paiva Weed and DiPalma. was worst in the state in 2016, reducing the freedom of Rhode Islanders.

Rep. Lauren Carson (D, district 75) scored a (-67.8), while Rep. Marvin Abney (D, district 73) scored a (-67.8), Sen. Teresa Paiva Weed (D, district 13), scored a (-68.4), and Sen. Louis DiPalma (D, district 12) scored a (-71.2).

TOP-3, BOTTOM-5. Joining Exeter as the only 3 towns to achieve a positive score was Richmond and Charleston. In addition to Newport, the bottom five towns were Pawtucket, East Providence, Providence, and Jamestown, all of which are part of the 16 cities and town that scored below the average General Assembly score.

On the main RIFreedom.org/FreedomIndex home page, voters have access to a multitude of data and tools, including links to:

• Legislator Scorecards for 2016 as well as for the prior 4 years
• Interactive data from 2012-2016 that can be filtered by a number of criteria including city/town, party, lawmaker, year, category, etc …
• 38 Studios Scorecard, released last month
• “Walkers” Index, which tallied missed votes by lawmakers over the past 3 years, released in collaboration with WatchdogRI.org

Later this month, again in collaboration with WatchdogRI.org, the Center also plans to release its first-ever “Sheeple Index“, which rates how often lawmakers vote in lock-step with political leadership.