Polar Pols

It turns out that a super-majority of Republicans in both chambers of the Florida Legislature didn't translate into much higher scores on the Florida Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative report card. But that's not to say the more conservative House and Senate didn't produce strong pro-business results.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative report card, released June 3, shows 60% of legislators received an “A” this year, barely up from 56% in 2010. The grades emphasize chamber priorities, such as “business climate and competitiveness” and “infrastructure and growth leadership,” which receive double-weighting in its scoring system.

“Overall, lawmakers did well,” says David Hart, the chamber's executive vice president, noting in a Web video that 35 of 36 priorities passed the House and 31 out of 36 passed the Senate.

The report card also takes on added significance this year, according to Chamber President and CEO Mark Wilson. “Next year with redistricting, all 160 legislators are on the ballot again. And the national media is focusing on Florida,” he notes.

But the improvement in grades comes no thanks to the upper chamber — only 15 of 40 senators received an “A,” 37.5%, compared to 21 last year. That nearly matches the low percentage of Gulf Coast senators at the top of the class. In contrast, all 81 House GOP members scored 90 or more on the 0-to-100 percentage scale, up from 68 last year.

Democrats' scores are especially dismal compared to last year, dragging the averages down, but having little if any affect on the final results. The highest score by a House Democrat is just 69.

But in the Senate, half of the 12 Democrats scored higher than former gubernatorial candidate Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who garnered a 46. She opposed public pension and growth management reforms.

Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, scored better than four Republicans with a 67. Siplin and Dockery came out on opposite ends of one of the chamber's priority areas: infrastructure and growth leadership. Siplin scored a perfect six for six while Dockery got zero.

Only four of the Gulf Coast's 11 senators received “A's” this year, 36.4%, the same as last year. But only one, Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, got a perfect score, compared to three last year. Explains Richter: “I felt a need for an emphasis on job creation and motivated to turn around the economy. And with that priority, that put me in concert with the chamber priorities.”

The other two, Sen. President pro-tempore Mike Bennett, and Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, fell to 95 and 90, respectively. The average score of the 11 fell nearly eight points despite the number of typically lower scoring Senate Democrats dropping from four to two.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, went from an 88 last year to a 60 this year. That slide can be traced to Fasano's opposition to insurance, medical malpractice and public pension reform measures supported by the chamber.

Another Tampa Bay senator, Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon, slid to a 65 after scoring 84 in 2010. Storms didn't support a property insurance reform bill or early versions of the “Community Planning Act,” which she voted for in the end.

Two Pinellas County-based senators each got a B-. Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole scored an 81, down from 87 in 2010, and freshman Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, received an 80.

Democrats weighed the averages down considerably even though there are fewer of them after the last election's Republican rout. Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, may have set a record for lowest score by a senator with a 17 this year after scoring 42 in 2010.

And Rep. Rick Kriseman, R-St. Petersburg, returned to his 2009 form after scoring a 67 last year. Two years ago, Kriseman received the lowest score of any legislator, a 27, but managed to fall further this year to earn a 23.

Last year, he told the Business Review, “I've always liked to think of myself as pro-business.”

In the minds of seven other House Democrats and two Democratic Senators, who all graded out lower than Kriseman, he may be thought of in that light.

In 2010, the four Gulf Coast Senators and seven House members averaged a score of 66. The average for this year's group of six Democrats fell to a 31. When looking at the scores of just the returning six Democrats for 2010 and 2011, their combined average score also fell by more than half from 63 last year.

The scores for last year's group of Gulf Coast Democrats was helped by an 85 from former State Rep. Janet Long, D-Seminole. Long lost her re-election bid to Rep. Larry Ahern, R-St. Petersburg, who scored a perfect 100, helping boost the Legislature's overall average.

In fact, 27 of the Gulf Coast's 31 House members, 87%, scored 90 or better this year. But the average score of the 21 returning representatives went down three points from last year to 90.4. It's easy to blame the Democrats. The four returning House Democrats, whose scores last year ranged from 65 to 76, fell a combined 132 percentage points to a range of 23 to 44.

Wilson sees the report card as needed information for chamber members to evaluate legislators who may vote one way in Tallahassee, but tell a different story back home. “The report card becomes the one tool that cuts through the clutter,” he says. “Where are they on the issues that create jobs in Florida? That's really the bottom line.”

Click here to review all legislator grades as given by the Chamber.