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DEFENDING ENVIRONMENTAL AGENDA
November 8, 2000
STATEMENT OF SIERRA CLUB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CARL POPE ON ELECTION RESULTS:
"It's premature to be analyzing the vote when the outcome of the Presidential election is still unknown. What we do know is that if you add Al Gore and Ralph Nader's vote totals, a clear majority of people voted for policies and a vision to protect America's environment. If George W. Bush becomes our next President, he ignores this environmental support at his peril. The Sierra Club's 600,000 members and millions of Americans stand ready to work day and night to protect America's environment for our families and for our future.
"As further proof that Americans used their ballots to support strong environmental safeguards, pro-environmental candidates won in approximately 75 percent of the Sierra Club's top-priority Senate and House campaigns. These were the races where the Sierra Club spent the most time, effort and money on behalf of pro-environmental candidates from both political parties.
"With the Presidential race as close as it was, having a third-party candidate with an environmental vision similar to Gore's clearly made a difference. This is particularly unfortunate because there is such a huge difference between the environmental records of Al Gore and George W. Bush."
The following is a list of the 13 Senate and 41 House races where the Sierra Club concentrated its campaign efforts. W = Sierra Club Endorsee Won L = Sierra Club Endorsee Lost ? = Too close to call * = Independent Expenditure Campaign HOUSE ANTI-ENVIRONMENT INCUMBENTS (listed first, Sierra Club endorsee listed second) W: CA27: Rogan v. Schiff W: CA31: Martinez v. Solis (primary) W: CA36: Kuykendall v. Harman L: CO06: Tancredo v. Toltz L: KY03: Northup v. Jordan L: NC11: C.Taylor v. Neill L: NM01: Wilson v. Kelly L: PA10: Sherwood v. Casey HOUSE PRO-ENVIRONMENT INCUMBENTS W: CA10: Tauscher W: CA22: Capps W: CO02: M. Udall L: CT02: Gejdenson W: CT04: Shays W: CT05: J. Maloney W: IA01: Leach W: IL17: Evans W: KS03: Moore W: MD08: Morella W: MI10: Bonior W: MN06: Luther ?: NJ12: Holt W: NY09: Weiner (primary) W: NY23: Boehlert (primary) W: NV01: Berkley W: OR01: Wu W: PA13: Hoeffel W: SC05: Spratt W: WA01: Inslee W: WA03: Baird W: WA09: A. Smith W: WI02: Baldwin HOUSE OPEN SEATS (Sierra Club endorsee listed first) L: IL10: Gash v. Kirk L: MI08: Byrum v. Rogers W: MN04: Betsy McCollum v. Runbeck L: MTAL: Keenan v. Rehberg * L: NJ07: Connelly v. Ferguson W: NY02: Israel v. Johnson L: OH12: O'Shaunessy v. Tiberi * W: OK02: Carson v. Ewing W: UT02: Matheson v. D. Smith * W: WA02: Larsen v. Koster* SENATE ANTI-ENVIORNMENT INCUMBENTS (listed first, Sierra Club endorsee listed second) W: MI: Abraham v. Stabenow W: MO: Ashcroft v. Carnahan W: MN: Grams v. Dayton L: MT: Burns v. Schweitzer ?: WA: Gorton v. Cantwell SENATE PRO-ENVIRONMENT INCUMBENTS W: NM: Bingaman L: VA: Robb W: VT: Jeffords SENATE OPEN SEATS (Sierra Club endorsees listed first) W: FL: Bill Nelson v. Bill McCollum W: NE: Ben Nelson v. Stenberg W: NJ: Corzine v. Franks L: NV: Bernstein v. Ensign W: NY: Clinton v. Lazio
Tuesday can be our day -- and by our I don't mean the Sierra Club. I mean the overwhelming majority of the American people, who care what is in the air they breathe, the water our children drink, the landscape we leave behind us. This is the day when, if we exercise it, we all have an equality muscle -- a muscle that makes each of us potentially as meaningful a voice as the most powerful and financially fortunate in the country.
The powerful and the financially fortunate will have spent, roughly, three billion dollars to persuade us not to lift a single finger on Tuesday; or, if we do lift a finger, they want us to treat Tuesday as an opportunity to pick a drinking buddy, or a protest, not a government. That way, they get to pick the government; we get to pick up the pieces.
It's up to us if we, our friends, our families, our neighbors, our colleagues, listen to them or reject their siren song.
I acknowledge I have spent a lot of time the last two weeks pondering polls, and parsing punditry. My conclusion at the end of the day on Friday -- I might as well have shaped bird entrails out of tofu and attempted Roman augury with them. The polls are so close in the Presidential race that a single major weather system could make more difference in the results than the margins that separate the candidates. And in the House and Senate races, for the first time in my career of thirty years, instead of one candidate pulling ahead, virtually every contested race has become closer and closer.
What this means is that at the end of a long season of strategy, and spinning, and sophistry; as the enormous mudslide of campaign dollars finally runs out of ad time to buy and mailboxes to stuff; as a public easily distracted by the question of exactly which FEMA official actually accompanied Al Gore to Texas wonders precisely why George Bush changed his driver's license number in Texas if not to cover the tracks of his youthful indiscretion --
-- at this moment, perhaps for the first time since 1960, it all comes down to heart, and faith, and passion, and energy.
It's as much about who votes, and why, as about how they vote.
If we can touch the hearts of the people we know, one at a time, in person and on the phone and on email, in the next three days, we can enter this century with a President and Congress flawed, but at least of this century. The alternative is a gang not unlike the Roman Emperor Commodus in "Gladiator"; they think if they can entertain us, we will gladly exchange both our inheritance and our legacy to their plundering.
I'm proud of you.
Carl Pope Executive Director
"Given a chance to stand with people, families or side with the polluters, Governor Bush has too often chosen to side with the polluters" -- Sen. Joe Lieberman during a recent visit to Texas
Table of Contents
1) SIERRA CLUB DOUBLES SIZE OF VOTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
2) ALBUQUERQUE VOTER GUIDE DROP BIG SUCCESS
3) LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN MONTANA
1) SIERRA CLUB DOUBLES SIZE OF VOTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
The Sierra Club has spent more than $8 million dollars this year on grassroots lobbying and voter education campaigns that used TV, radio, print advertising, the mail and the Internet to inform the public about the environmental records of elected officials. The 2000 campaign more than doubled the Club's 1998 $3.7 million efforts.
In 2000, the Club produced more than 70 ads that ran in 20 markets -- including 10 ads designed to pressure Governor George W. Bush to clean up pollution in Texas. The Club has also distributed more that two million voter guides in the last four weeks and will run newspaper ads this week in papers in Washington, Oregon, Michigan and Virginia.
And for the first time, the Club produced ads targeted to Latinos and partnered with the NAACP National Voter Fund to reach African-Americans.
2) ALBUQUERQUE VOTER GUIDE DROP BIG SUCCESS
More than 50 volunteers, including Sierra Club activists from as far away as Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Cuba, NM, showed up this past Saturday (10/28) to distribute voter guides in Albuquerque neighborhoods comparing both Congressional candidates (Wilson v. Kelly) and Bush/Gore. 8500 voter guides were left throughout primarily Hispanic neighborhoods, with the text in both English and Spanish.
The Spanish language TV station in town, Unavision/Channel 41, made our event a headline news piece on Saturday after filming and talking to our EVEC organizer, Alma Rosa Silva-Banuelos the day before. Major help is also being provided by our Albuquerque-based staffer Jennifer de Garmo. Thanks to both of them -- and to Rio Grande Chapter activists -- for making this event a great one!
3) LETTER TO THE EDITOR IN MONTANA
The Billings Outpost www.billingsnews.com
Voter guides point out differences in environmental stances
To the editor:
Despite significant environmental victories in recent years, we all know that change is not happening fast enough in Montana. Many of Montana's waterways are polluted and our green spaces and agricultural land continue to shrink before advancing walls of suburban houses and malls.
When asked by pollsters, four out of five Americans call themselves "environmentalists." Yet Congress passed 53 anti-environmental laws as part of the 2000 federal budget.
Montana Sierra Club members decided that it's not enough that we support policies that are in the best interest of our environment. And it's not enough that those policies have the support of the vast majority of the American public.
We needed to do more.
That's why the Sierra Club launched an Environmental Voter Education Campaign to inform the public about the positions of candidates for Montana's Senate seat.
Sen. Conrad Burns has not stood up for Montanans' rights to a clean environment. He has voted to support legislation that jeopardizes the safety of Montana's water, land, and air. He voted against the health of our families and communities by supporting dirty water bills and cutting funding for environmental programs.
You may see our television commercial urging people to know the candidates' records on the environment before they vote. The ad acts as a reminder that this is your air, your water and you should know the candidates' positions on these issues before you vote.
The issue of the environment has been thrust into the spotlight thanks to the presidential race. But protecting our resources isn't just a national concern - it's about what's happening in our own backyards.
Environmentally responsible leaders could work to make all of Montana's rivers, streams and lakes safe for swimming, fishing, and boating.
Of course, the environmental movement will never be able to match the financial resources of our opponents in the timber, chemical, mining and oil and gas industries. Our power comes from activists who feel it's their job to expose the environmental positions of candidates so the public is fully informed before they vote on Nov. 7.
The Sierra Club has released environmental voter guides that provide a side-by-side comparison of candidates for Montana's Senate seat - Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) and Brian Schweitzer. The guides show a sharp distinction between their positions on critical issues, including clean water and air.
Contact the Billings office of the Sierra Club at 248-4339 if you would like to help distribute these voter guides, or receive one in the mail. The information will also be on our Web site at www.sierraclub.org/voter_education
A great deal is at stake. Anyone who is concerned about protecting our environment should review the positions of our candidates closely - for our families, for our future.
Mary Wiper Billings
"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time." James Thurber
1) Campaign 2000 Liberals Beat Drum for Gore, Hope Nader Backers Listen
2) Former President Jimmy Carter Says Environmentalists Should Vote Gore
Below are several articles which recently ran in major publications. We thought they might be of interest to you.
1) LOS ANGELES TIMES:
CAMPAIGN 2000 Liberals Beat Drum for Gore, Hope Nader Backers Listen Politics: Fearful that the Green candidate could tip some states to Bush, an organized effort is underway to bolster the vice president's chances. (RONALD BROWNSTEIN, 11/01/2000, Los Angeles Times, p. A-16)
MINNEAPOLIS -- Liberal leaders and interest groups are mounting a massive nationwide effort to drive supporters of Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader back toward Al Gore.
Fearful that Nader could siphon away votes from Gore and tip as many as half a dozen ordinarily Democratic states to Republican George W. Bush, a constellation of liberal stalwarts this week is organizing rallies, buying television and radio ads, and organizing phone banks all aimed at bolstering Gore against Nader.
Candidacy May Give Election to Bush
On one track, Gore's supporters are challenging Nader's core contention--that no meaningful differences separate Democrat Gore and Republican Bush on key issues. On the other, they are charging that Nader's candidacy may set back the causes he espouses by delivering the election to Bush--and with it the power to appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices.
"I have tremendous respect for Ralph Nader, and I have stood with Ralph on just about every single issue," Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, perhaps the Senate's most liberal member, declared at a downtown rally with Gore here last weekend. "But it would be a horrible irony if a vote for Ralph Nader meant George Bush becomes president of the United States of America. This is too dear a price to pay for our country."
In the short run, these attacks on Nader may have had the unintended effect of raising his visibility. But even Nader backers worry that the drumbeat from the left may cause second thoughts among liberals now inclined to support the consumer advocate. "People like Paul Wellstone, Jesse Jackson, Tom Hayden are definitely going to have an effect, no question about it," says Pentel. "The fear factor is powerful."
Gore had better hope he's right: If voters still undecided in the campaign's final days break away from the party in the White House, as they often do, the vice president will need every Nader vote he can find to hold several states that Democrats once considered a sure thing.
Mobilization Focused on Half-Dozen States
Although national in scope, the liberal mobilization is focused primarily on about half a dozen states with strong progressive traditions where Nader has shown his greatest strength--helping Bush to remain surprisingly competitive with Gore. These states include Maine, Washington and Wisconsin, where polls generally show Gore clinging to a narrow lead; New Mexico, which has been a tossup; and Oregon and Minnesota, where public polls have shown Nader drawing as much as 8% to 10% of the vote and Bush narrowly leading Gore. Except for New Mexico, a genuine swing state, all of these are states that Democrats expected to carry this year.
Gore campaign aides estimate that about half of Nader supporters may be open to supporting the vice president. Given that Nader generally polls 5% or less in national surveys, that isn't a huge amount of votes. But with Bush and Gore so evenly matched in so many states, even small shifts in Nader support could prove crucial. In Minnesota and Oregon, for instance, Gore would be leading Bush in the latest surveys if he won half of Nader's voters.
In these final days of the campaign, the effort to convert those voters is reaching a frenzy. The rally here Tuesday night was part of a series that NARAL, the Sierra Club and the Human Rights Campaign are sponsoring across the country this week, complete with such celebrities as Etheridge.
Sierra Club Ads Target Nader Backers
Close behind NARAL in its efforts is the Sierra Club , a leading environmental group. Its efforts may be even more critical to Gore's hopes because environmentalists have provided an important core of support for Nader, especially in Oregon and Washington.
Without mentioning the Green Party nominee by name, the Sierra Club is running television and radio ads in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Maine challenging Nader's contention that there is no meaningful difference between Gore and Bush on the environment. In Oregon and Wisconsin, the group has even placed ads with that message in alternative newspapers popular on college campuses.
"Those are aimed specifically at the most likely Nader voters," says Daniel Weiss, the Sierra Club 's national political director.
Appearing on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Nader angered abortion rights supporters by arguing that even if Bush won and appointed Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, states would still be free to permit legal abortion if they chose. But that argument doesn't appear to be resonating much: Pentel, the Nader organizer here, says fear about the effect of Bush Supreme Court appointments, particularly on legal abortion, was the most powerful force driving Nader voters back to Gore.
'They Feel Democrats Are to Blame'
Not all the liberals stumping for Gore are comfortable with these hardball arguments. Both Hayden and Wellstone argue that it may be counterproductive to tell Nader supporters that they are wasting their vote. "They don't want to be told they are to blame, because they feel the Democrats are to blame," Hayden says.
Instead, Hayden says, he's urging liberals to back Nader in states that Bush or Gore have locked up, and to support Gore in those where the outcome is still in doubt. Hayden says that approach (which some Web sites also are encouraging, such as https://www.voteswap2000.com/) would help Nader reach the 5% vote threshold that the Greens need to secure federal funding in 2004, but it would also minimize the risk of assisting Bush.
Likewise, Wellstone says, "there's nothing mysterious or magical or complicated about this. Ultimately, it's what [liberal columnist] Molly Ivins said a long time ago: If you live in a state that's not close, vote your heart; if you live in a state that's close, vote your head."
For the complete article, please go to https://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20001101/t000104482.html
2) Associated Press November 1, 2000
Former President Endorses Gore By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA (AP) -- Former President Carter endorsed Al Gore for president on Wednesday, saying it would be ``a serious and far-reaching mistake'' for fellow Democrats to turn away as some did from Hubert Humphrey in his 1968 loss to Richard Nixon.
``I have had the pleasure of knowing Al Gore for more than 20 years,'' Carter said. ``He is a man of strong convictions and a strong sense of right and wrong. As a young man, he volunteered for service in Vietnam, something many of his peers chose to avoid.''
Carter compared this election to 1968, when Nixon narrowly defeated Humphrey in the midst of heated argument about the Vietnam War.
``As this campaign draws to a close, I cannot help but recall with concern the election of 1968,'' Carter said. ``Hubert Humphrey, another good man, lost narrowly because many Democrats and others who shared his basic views and philosophy of a lifetime let specific differences blind them to the larger good and turned away.
``A good man lost, and I am firmly convinced that those who care deeply about our environment, the less fortunate, and women's rights would make a serious and far reaching mistake by turning away from Al Gore.''
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