The Indiana Chamber of Commerce released its annual Legislative Vote Analysis Tuesday and all local legislators were graded.
The report provides scores for the 50 members of the Indiana Senate and the 100 members of the Indiana House of Representatives across a wide range of key bills the Indiana Chamber identified from the recent legislative activity.
Of note, recently defeated Rep. Bill Ruppel (R-District 22) received a rating of 83 percent.That's the same as Rep. Dave Wolkins (R-District 18), Sen. Gary Dillon (R-District 17) and two points higher than Sen. Marlin Stutzman (R-District 18) based on a two-year average.
Ruppel recently was defeated in the May 4 primary by Rebecca Kubacki, Syracuse.
According to the chamber, legislators over a two-year period with a score of 70 percent or higher are eligible for an endorsement by the chamber's political action committee, Indiana Business for Responsive Government.
IBRG instead endorsed Kubakci and spent around $40,000 for radio, mail, cable TV and call banks for Kubacki's campaign.
Michael Davis, the vice president of political affairs for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, said Ruppel's voting record in 2008 graded out to 64 percent.
Davis said the IBGR targeted the Kubacki/Ruppel race as one of its top two to oust incumbents.
Education was cited by Davis as one area where the chamber differd from Ruppel.
Despite the fact that Ruppel is a former teacher, Davis said Ruppel's support of the teachers union was a factor against the incumbent.
"We need a legislator like Rebecca Kubacki," said Davis, citing that she would be an independent voice for her district and "much stronger advocate and much stronger leader."
