The NFIB is out with its annual legislative report card, and it does not bode well for the Senate Democrats.

The small business association’s NYS director, Mike Elmendorf, joined me on “Capital Tonight” yesterday to unveil the grades the NFIB is doling out to state lawmakers based on their votes on key bills in 2009-2010 (including last year’s budget).

Elmendorf says the evaluation shows his 10,000 members fared far less well under Democratic control of the Senate than they did when the Republicans were in charge. (As a former Pataki administration aide and a Republican, one might argue that Elmendorf has a bias here, but he insists the NFIB is nonpartisan).

The NIFB will be using its report card to inform its endorsements, which are slated to be made in the coming weeks. According to Elmendorf, the business community plans to be more engaged in this election cycle than usual – particularly in the Senate, where a little involvement could go a long way toward deciding the balance of power.

“I think you’re going to see a much more effective engagement from the business community on the political front, because clearly if we’re not electing more good pro-business, pro-small business, pro-economy legislators, we’re going to keep showing bad numbers in terms of how we’ve done,” Elmendorf told me.

“Because, you know, this voting record is not only how the legislators voted, it shows whether we were winning or not. This was a very difficult session for the business community. We got beat up pretty good.”

NY 2009-2010 Voting Record

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