Murphey Receives Conservative Lawmaker of the Year Award

State Representative Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie) has been awarded the designation of Outstanding Conservative State Representative of the Year by the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC).

Murphey was presented with the award April 30 during the organization's awards banquet. OCPAC, one of Oklahoma's largest grassroots conservative organizations, awards the distinction each year to one state Representative and one state Senator. They voted to award Murphey with the designation after he received a rating of 100% on the Oklahoma Conservative Index.

Each year since 1979, the Index has graded Oklahoma legislators so constituents can gauge how conservative or liberal their legislator votes. Murphey was graded on ten issues, including his votes against issuing more government debt and against liberalizing Oklahoma's unemployment benefits to accept federal stimulus money. Murphey was given points for his votes for declaring English to be Oklahoma's official language and for overturning a Gubernatorial veto on a key right-to-life issue.

Murphey says that his polices of voting against issuing new government debt, tax and fee increases and the creation of new government bureaucracies have aided his effort to maintain a conservative voting record. Murphey has also never lost points for missing votes and has maintained a 99% record of being present to vote on legislation.

The award is Murphey's second by a conservative grassroots organization for his work during the 2009 legislative year. Murphey was previously awarded with the designation 2009 Legislation of the year by the group Oklahomans for Responsible Government (OFRG). OFRG presented the award to Murphey based on his work in winning approval for Senate Joint Resolution 12 which puts to a vote of the people whether statewide elected officials should be limited to just two terms in office, and Senate Bill 800 to reform the initiative petition process and require legal challenges to the wording of citizen initiatives to happen before signatures are collected.

"I ran on a platform of representing conservative values when I campaigned for office. I believe this designation shows that I am keeping my word," Murphey said.

Murphey remains the only Oklahoma legislator to maintain a lifetime score of 100% on the Conservative Index, having scored 100% in 2007, 2008 and 2009.