Defending the Environmental Agenda
July 29, 1996
"The meaning of life is that it stops."
-- Franz Kafka
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Sierra Club Legislative Hotline - 202-675-2394
Sierra Club National Headquarters - 415-977-5500
Sierra Club World Wide Web - http://www.sierraclub.org
White House Comment Line - 202-456-1111
White House Fax Line - 202-456-2461
Clinton's e-mail - president@whitehouse.gov
Gore's e-mail - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
White House Address - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC
20500
US Capitol Switchboard - 202-224-3121
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Contents:
IN THE MAIN RING: VIRGINIA GOVERNOR PICKS A FIGHT
HE WON'T WIN.
ANOTHER GOVERNOR DOES THE
SOFT-SHOE.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: VOTER CHARTS EMERGE-GUIDES TO
CANDIDATES AVAILABLE NOW!
SEASTRAND IN THE SPOTLIGHT.
BOB BASHES BRUCE.
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IN THE MAIN RING:
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR PICKS A FIGHT HE WON'T WIN
Albert Pollard, Virginia Sierran, jabbed Virginia Governor
George Allen last week. For his encore,this week Albert is
jabbing Allen again.
Albert saw the potential jab last week when he heard that Allen
would be sponsoring a river cleanup -- a sad departure from the
real world at best and blatant hypocrisy at worst.
Allen's record on environmental issues is lamentable. Allen has
accepted $100,000 in political contributions from a meat-
packing company, Smithfield Foods, which now specializes in the
butchering of pigs. Smithfield was under investigation by
Allen's own administration at the time of the money-dump.
While Smithfield was hard at work doling out the dollars, the
company had been dumping untreated pig manure and
slaughterhouse "run-off" into the Pagan River, a tributary to
the Chesapeake Bay. Smithfield also faces a federal probe for
"losing" thousands of environmental documents.
Albert played truth-squad at Allen's greenscam event. Albert
got our message into the media with a follow-up to the staged,
bogus event that featured Allen and an aide whitewater rafting
and talking about cleaning up the river.
Albert's quote on three tvs, two radios and one print outlet:
"It's a little like the O.J. fundraiser for battered women. You
like the action; you wonder about the motivation."
Today, Governor Allen foolishly kept the story alive by
screaming out for Albert's resignation. Albert jabbed again,
calling on Governor Allen to join one of the established river
cleanups planned for the state, instead of his own press
conference, and then went on to challenge Allen's record again.
The Virginia Sierran issued a news release that challenged,
"Instead of picking up beer bottles, maybe the Governor could
tell us why he wants to allow chlorine in streams that have
threatened and endangered species...Perhaps.. the Governor will
tell us why the only criminal in the state that doesn't get
penalized is Smithfield Foods...there has been no enforcement
of the 59 environmental violations Smithfield Foods racked up
in the past two years."
An aide to Governor Allen screamed out again, this time on a
radio duel with our Sierra advocate. The aide, referring to
Albert's O.J. Simpson analogy, attempted to score points with
the women's movement if not the environmental one. "The members
of the Sierra Club endorse wife beating."
ANOTHER GOVERNOR DOES THE SOFT-SHOE
Governor William Weld, Massachusetts, faces a showdown for
Senate Seat now held by John Kerry, a hero of environmental
struggles in this Congress. The race is hotly contested in a
state where environmental consciousness is second to none.
Weld's ties to pals at a utility company triggered this
headline in the Boston Herald late last week: Weld took money
from California firm that polluted.
The article said, "Gov. William Weld, who is fighting for
the environmental vote in his Senate race, took a $1,000
donation from a California utility company that just paid $333
million to settle a major pollution lawsuit."
Those are the kinds of headlines we think our upcoming report
on politics and money just might generate.
ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL:
VOTER CHARTS EMERGE-GUIDES TO CANDIDATES AVAILABLE NOW!
After hard work by a group of Sierrans, we're now happy to
report that our Voter Guides are now ready. The guides zero in
on key votes for several regions of the country, the Northwest,
California, the Midwest, Great Plains, the West, the Atlantic
Coast, Florida, the Northeast, and one dubbed America that
describes votes that would affect us all.
The guides show how members of the House of Representatives
voted when they cast five important votes. The guides were put
out by the Sierra Club because we believe that the public needs
to know how well their elected officials are representing their
interest in a safe and healthy environment. The front side of
the guides describes votes; the back side shows an actual
tally.
Call the Sierra Club for a copy of these helpful guides now!
Sierra Club National Headquarters - 415-977-5500
SEASTRAND IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Andrea Seastrand, the anti-environmental Congresswoman from
the 22nd district in southern California, and her Democratic
challenger William Capps were highlighted in the New York Times
(July 29, 1996). The article discussed the extensive
cooperation between the freshman Republican and Speaker
Gingrich and her "unalloyed support for his strongly
conservative Contract With America."
The Times reported that the Capps' campaign has "momentum
because of the strong efforts on his behalf by...the Sierra
Club and League of Conservation Voters.
"Groups have sponsored anti-Seastrand radio and telephone
campaigns, and have mailed out fliers critical of her....A
Sierra Club flier labels her an 'eco-thug.' The Congresswoman
calls the television ads and fliers 'totally inaccurate,
unfair, and negative.'"
The anti-Seastrand forces' hopes rest in Walter Capps, a 62-
year old religious studies professor at University of
California at Santa Barbara, one of the major cities in the
district, and a sworn friend of the environment. Mr. Capps is
the "ideological opposite of the Congresswoman on most
important issues...including the environment". Capps is
looking for victory in this swing district comprised of both
conservative ranchers and farmers and liberal white collar
workers and retirees. As the Democratic challenger in 1994, he
lost the race by only 1,563 votes. Political pollsters say the
race is a toss up.
BOB BASHES BRUCE
Likely Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole was on a
tour of the West this week, conducting a states' rights "War on
the West" campaign. According to Dole, it was "time to get rid
of Bruce Babbitt and appoint a new Secretary of the Interior"
(Gransbery, Billings Gazette, 7/29). The crowd roared
approval" Dole called for the removal of Babbitt, "seen locally
as the personification of Clinton's restrictive environmental
policies" (Reuters/Detroit News, 7/29).