The big news this year from the “no enemies to the right” Principles of Liberty legislator awards ceremony at the Western Conservative Summit is that Rep. Justin Everett, Littleton Republican and Master of No under the Gold Dome, placed second on the bill-ratings scorecard, trailing his friend and chief righty-politics competitor Rep. Patrick Neville, boy king of conservative Castle Rock.

Next in line after Neville and Everett came Rep. Kim Ransom, also from Littleton, and then came a series of honorable mentions that went to Reps. Perry Buck, R-Greeley, Tim Leonard, R-Evergreen, Lori Saine, R-Firestone and Steve Humphrey, R-Severance.

In the Senate, top three honors went to Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, Tim Neville, R-Littleton, and Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling.

“We founded this organization seven years ago with one goal: to focus the conversation,” said outgoing executive director Rich Bratten in announcing the awards. “What is the proper role of government? We focus on principles – fostering free people, free markets, good government.”

The Principles of Liberty lawmaker ranking system is an inexact science but it’s as good a measure as any for discerning which are the hardline conservatives at the Capitol and even a good predictor of how they will vote on each proposed bill. Indeed, many say the group’s bill ratings can act as a sort of Cliffs Notes system and make lawmakers lazy about drawing their own conclusions as to the worthiness of legislative proposals. Many Republican lawmakers routinely check on the Principles of Liberty site during committee hearings and floor debate and calculate their likely rankings.

“These two can be very competitive,” said Bratten before bringing out Reps. Neville and Everett.

Everett, the expected first-place liberty lawmaker, was upset with how things went down this year. He won last year with a Total Data score of 98.8 percent. Neville came in second place that year with a 97.3 percent score. Everett also pulled down top score in 2014. He did the same in 2013.

“I just think they got the bill markups wrong this year and I told Rich that,” Everett said in the lobby outside the main hall at the summit.

He went on with details. He seemed ready to talk for hours over drinks somewhere nearby about where the science went awry. The gist was that key bills had changed in committee and others had changed during debate on the floor of the chambers. “One of them was amended to be the exact opposite of what it was originally,” he said, shaking his head, a silent version of the old disappointed, We can do better, people!

New-ish Principles of Liberty Executive Director Chelsea Spencer, who came on in January, will have to address the concerns. She seems up to refining the system.

Bratton told the crowd that Spencer graduated Summa Cum Laude from Hillsdale College, where she was president of the Firearms Club, that she received a Presidential Scholarship, was awarded the George Washington Fellowship for Statesmanship, and worked as an intern at the Heritage Foundation.

Also, Spencer will have help. The organization is doubling its roster of interns next year. “We’re hiring them to help legislators analyze bills,” said Bratten.

– john@coloradostatesman.com