RALEIGH - The end of a four-year power-sharing agreement in the House and the election of Rep. Joe Hackney as speaker has shifted the names atop a nonpartisan think tank's biennial rating of the effectiveness of state lawmakers.

Six of the House members listed among the 10 most effective in their chamber during the 2007 session weren't in the top 10 list two years ago, when Democratic Rep. Jim Black was speaker and led the chamber as part of a coalition with GOP Rep. Richard Morgan and his allies.

Black and Morgan are no longer in the legislature -- Black is serving a federal prison sentence for taking illegal cash payments from chiropractors, while Morgan was defeated in the 2006 primary.

Hackney, D-Orange, ranked No. 1 in effectiveness in the House in the survey of lobbyists, legislators and reporters conducted by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. Hackney was third in the House two years ago, when he was majority leader.

Newcomers to the top 10 include several of Hackney's lieutenants, including current Majority Leader Hugh Holliman of Lexington at No. 3; Rep. Rick Glazier of Fayetteville at No. 4; and Rep. Deborah Ross of Raleigh at No. 7.

Michaux climbs

Rep. Mickey Michaux of Durham, the House Appropriations Committee's senior chairman, rose from 21st two years ago to No. 6, while former Speaker Dan Blue of Raleigh ranked eighth following a four-year hiatus as a representative.

Ranked second in the House was Rep. Bill Owens of Elizabeth City, the House Rules Committee chairman and a former political ally of Black's. Owens was fourth in 2006.

House Minority Leader Paul Stam of Apex surged from No. 42 in 2006 to tenth this year. Stam managed a more unified House Republican caucus that had fractured over Morgan's alliance with Black.

Stam and former Speaker Harold Brubaker of Asheboro were the only Republicans in the top 25. Democrats now hold 68 of the 120 House seats, the most since 1993. Republicans allied with Morgan saw their effectiveness rankings fall, including Reps. Julia Howard of Mocksville and Danny McComas of Wilmington.

Wright at bottom

Ranked last in the House survey was Rep. Thomas E. Wright, a Wilmington Democrat who was embroiled in a campaign-finance investigation in 2007. He ultimately was expelled from the House last month and sentenced this week to about six to eight years in prison after being convicted on three fraud counts.

The Senate's effectiveness rankings saw little change near the top. Senate leader Marc Basnight of Manteo retained the top spot for the eighth consecutive survey and Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville ranked No. 2 for the fifth straight time.

The only change in the top 10 was Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat who ranked 10th compared with 11th two years ago. Sen. John Kerr, a Goldsboro Democrat, fell from ninth to 13th. Kerr is not running for re-election this year.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord is the top Republican at No. 9. Democrats hold a 31-19 seat advantage in the chamber.

Those lawmakers making the largest leap in the rankings were Democrats Melanie Goodwin of Hamlet, who rose 42 spots to No. 31 in the House, and John Snow of Murphy, who leapt from 32nd to 22nd in the Senate.

The survey, which began in 1978, asks participants to rank lawmakers on a scale of 1 to 10 for effectiveness.