Senator Felder Scores Highest Marks with Conservative Party

By Paula Katinas

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Brooklyn lawmaker with the highest rating from the New York State Conservative Party is…a Democrat.

State Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Borough Park-Midwood) and a Republican colleague from Broome County earned the highest rating among senators in the Conservative Party’s annual ratings.

Felder and state Sen. Fred Akshar (R-Broome County) both scored 90 percent, meaning that 90 percent of the time, they voted on bills the Conservative Party had endorsed or voted against legislation the party had fought against.

Assemblymember Dean Murray (R-C-East Patchogue) garnered the highest score among the assemblymembers, 95 percent.

Released on Oct. 11, the ratings reflect the 2016 Legislative Session, which ended in June.

Felder, a former city councilmember, was elected to the state senate in 2012. Despite the fact that he is a Democrat, he caucuses with the Republicans in the state senate. In the upcoming Nov. 8 election, his name will appear on three ballot lines: Democrat, Conservative and Republican.

The Conservative Party, chaired by Mike Long, looked at 20 pieces of legislation passed by the state Legislature and ranked state lawmakers on how they voted on the bills.
Party leaders track legislation throughout the session, issue support and opposition memos, and determine, at an executive committee meeting, which key issues are important to the party’s members, including spending, crime, education and various other topics.

"A review of the 20 bills used in this year's ratings will show voters how some passed bills are specious or costly to taxpayers and where they will help New Yorkers. The ratings give voters a scorecard on how their individual legislator voted on a diverse range of bills considered in the legislative session," Long said in a statement.

The overall Republican-controlled state senate rating is 69.5 percent, up from last year's total of 62 percent.  The Assembly, which is dominated by Democrats, increased its overall average to 41.8 percent.

“We believe that it is necessary to keep the public informed of these key votes and let the taxpayers be aware of how elected officials spend our money. Every bill is considered, and then we choose a reasonable number to give voters a fair assessment of how tax dollars are spent, laws that effect the cost of doing business and the safety of citizens living in New York," Long stated.

The ratings were released with the Nov. 8 election in mind, according to Long.

"Before going to the voting booth in just four weeks, voters should review our ratings and consider how their legislators represented them. Conservative principles work for taxpayers and for businesses, voting for officials committed to conservative principles is the only way New York will be able to stop the hemorrhaging of people and jobs," he said.

Here is a link to the ratings: http://www.cpnys.org/ratings/.