🚀 go-pugleaf

gahler@cais2.cais.com (Mark Gahler) wrote:
> You are probably being naive if you think the Texas Sierra Club is doing 
> deep, thorough investigations into the candidate's environmental views
> before handing out endorsements. Their strategy is probably to simply go 
> straight-ticket Dem in the hope the Dems who don't care about environmental 
> issues, one way or the other, will simply vote the party line. An 
> acceptable strategy for a special interest group, IMO, but let's call it 
> what it is--"partisanship." If you care about some high-minded integrity 
> in Texas SC endorsements, then you might suggest to them that they withhold 
> endorsements next year from these Texas Democrats:
> 
> Chapman (LCV score=24), Wilson (38), Hall (22), Edwards (33), Geren (17),
> Laughlin (27), Stenholm (17), Ortiz (33), Tejeda (33)

After reading your response, I looked through my stack of Lone Star
Chapter reports and found the endorsement list of State elections
(couldn't find the Nat. endorsements).  Sure enough, they were all
Democrats (about 20 endorsements).  I called up a Club officer about this.
It turns out that the endorsements do go through a fairly thorough
investigation.  There are 2 major factors.  1) Questionaires are 
sent out to the candidates and, based on their answers, an interview
may be set up to follow-up.  2) If the person has held office, their
record may stimulate an interview even if they don't respond to the
questions.  The impression I got was that the Club DOES try it's
best to do deep inverstigations.  Also, all types of candidates
are looked at: Demo. Repub., Independent.

Republicans rarely respond and if they do respond their answers are
usually "aweful".  The Club occassionally endorses Rebublicans
but not often.  There is also a class of Democrats called
"Bubba Democrats" which the people you list fall into: like Hall and
Geren.  These guys definitely don't get the Club's endorsement.

So I repeat, here in Texas the Club endorses the best candidates
(from the Club's environmental perspective).  That these candidates
are almost always Democrats is not due to partisianship on the Club's
part, but rather due to the Republicans poor environmental rhetoric
and public records.

From the "daughter of Gordon Libby" quote I can understand why you 
might suspect the professionalism of Virginia Club endorsements,
but here in Texas I think the Club tries very hard to pick it's
endorsements wisely.  Actually, I never realized this so thanks for
spurring me to call.  I respect my own chapter of the Sierra Club
even more.

Dwight Bartholomew