Changes to bills list clearly designed to skew results, says Democratic chair

Oklahoma City, OK (October 12, 2009) - The non-profit Research Institute for Economic Development has compromised their integrity by pushing a highly partisan message and skewing results to fail every Democratic legislator, according to Todd Goodman, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party.

"I was taken aback to see that this institute doesn't consider any Democrats to be pro-business," Goodman stated. "That is a completely false assessment of what Democrats stand for - and of the work that Democratic legislators do every day."

The RIED publishes annual scores for legislators on what they consider to be pro-business issues and legislation. But elements of their process, including adding "advocacy ratings" and revising their list of bills considered, have had the effect of skewing their ratings along partisan lines.

In 2007, of the current legislators, 23 House Democrats and 11 Senate Democrats received a passing score. In 2008, 12 Democrats in the House and three in the Senate passed.

This year, however, not a single Democratic legislator received a passing score.

"This process has devolved from being a somewhat useful tool for Oklahoma business interests to being a tool in promoting the GOP message," Goodman said. "Apparently RIED has become more interested in painting a partisan picture than in assessing legislative action."

In April, RIED published a list of 43 bills and resolutions that would be considered in their grading process. The current list on the website, though, cites 132 measures that were used - including many that were never even heard in committee.

"RIED is clearly overreaching by scoring legislators on bills that were never heard and have zero impact on our state policies," Goodman added. "The only reason to add these bills is political - and that destroys any credibility RIED may have held."

He noted that Democrats introduced many pro-business bills that were neither scored by RIED nor granted a hearing by Republican committee chairs.

"Democrats have long stood up to help grow businesses in rural and underserved areas, to promote quality jobs in expanding industries such as green energy and to expand career training to ensure a highly prepared workforce. It's unfortunate that a so-called 'pro-business' institute would so blatantly overlook these efforts.

"Nothing in these scores makes me think that RIED is truly trying to do what's best for Oklahoma businesses and our economy," Goodman concluded.