Sierra Club Threatened by Hostile Takeover (from MoveOn.org)

[Dover]

Dear MoveOn member,

Are you a Sierra Club member?

The future of the Sierra Club is at stake.

Outsiders are trying to take over the Club by placing stealth
candidates on the Club's board ballot this year. This is driven
by anti-immigration activists, and their tactics are underhanded --
they aren't declaring their real issue positions to members.
They hope that low participation and confusion will allow them
to stack the board of directors.

You can stop this, but you must vote now in the Sierra Club board
election. You probably have already received the ballot in the mail.

We've attached below an outreach from Groundswell Sierra -- a
volunteer network of Sierra Club members working to defeat this
threat. This outreach includes a list of endorsed candidates.
We recommending printing this email and having it on hand as you
fill out your ballot.

If you'd like more information on this threat, go to:

http://www.groundswellsierra.org/takeover_index.php

Thank you,

-Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
The MoveOn.org team
Tuesday, March 18th, 2004

P.S. You won't be hearing from the Sierra Club directly about
this underhanded maneuver by anti-immigration activists. Sierra Club
staff cannot speak out about board elections. It's up to us.

You can review an article on this attempted takeover by former
Sierra Club President, Adam Werbach, at:

Hostile Takeover
Anti-immigration coalition seeks control of Sierra Club
By Adam Werbach | 3.9.04
http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=644_0_2_0_M

Key excerpt:

"In 1998 the membership voted overwhelmingly to stay out of the
(immigration) issue, restating that the most effective way to deal
with the impact of population on the planet is to reduce levels
of American waste and to raise the global status of women."

P.P.S. You can vote on line, but only with your paper ballot
in hand. For more information:

http://www.groundswellsierra.org/vote.php
________________

ACTION ALERT FROM GROUNDSWELL SIERRA:

The Sierra Club has been targeted for a hostile takeover by
anti-immigration, animal rights and other groups who are running
petition candidates with no Sierra Club experience for the Board
of Directors. Don't take our word for it: The Los Angeles Times,
Santa Fe New Mexican, Denver Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer
have all warned that the threat is serious. That's why Groundswell
Sierra - a diverse group of Sierra Club volunteers who are working
to defend the Sierra Club - is asking you to support five Nominating
Committee-recommended candidates who have over 75 years of
collective experience as Sierra Club grassroots activists and will
put their loyalty to the Sierra Club above their personal agendas:

NICK AUMEN, Everglades restoration scientist and former
Sierra Club Treasurer and Vice President for Conservation.


DAVE KARPF, Recent Director of Sierra Student Coalition,
and Chair of the Sierra Club's Training and national EPEC
field programs.


JAN O'CONNELL, Sierra Club Treasurer, former Vice
President for Organizational Effectiveness, fundraiser in
the Sierra Club's beat-Bush effort.


SANJAY RANCHOD, delegate to the U.N. Kyoto global
warming negotiations and Chair of the Sierra Club's
Sustainable Planet Strategy Team.


LISA RENSTROM, leader of the Harvard project to
strengthen the Sierra Club's groups and chapters, former
Director, former Foundation Trustee, and former Chair of
the Sierra Club's fundraising efforts.

Nick, Dave, Jan, Sanjay, and Lisa have brought experience and
dedicated leadership to the Sierra Club. They have led our
conservation priority campaigns, the Sierra Club's EPEC program,
help strengthen the Sierra Club's financial health, run the Sierra
Student Coalition, and represented the Sierra Club at UN conferences
on the Kyoto accord on global warming. (For information on these
candidates, go to our website, http://www.groundswellsierra.org )

At a time when the Sierra Club's own democratic process is being
used against us, when our agenda and assets are targeted for takeover
by outsiders, we are giving Nick, Dave, Jan, Sanjay, and Lisa our
unqualified support. These are trusted leaders who have shown that
they value the Club's mission and grassroots culture, and who believe
only a united and strong Sierra Club can stop George Bush's assaults
on our air, water, wild lands and wildlife.

Finally, we would be remiss if did not acknowledge the invaluable
contributions former Board Directors Chad Hanson, Michael Dorsey
and Ed Dobson have made to the Sierra Club's conservation work,
and we wish them well in this election.

Please share this email with as many of your friends and other
Sierra Club members as you can. Urge them to visit our website
( http://www.groundswellsierra.org ),
and when their ballots arrive in early March, please VOTE!

There's a lot at stake. The following quotes explain why.

"We're only three directors away from controlling the board.
And, once we get three more directors elected... change the
entire agenda of that organization."
-- Paul Watson, Sierra Club Director and animal rights activist
at the center of the take over effort.

"If they succeed. Our integrity, our credibility and our
reputation will be severely damaged and we will be rendered less
effective on all the issues our members care about."
-- Ross Vincent, long time Sierra Club activist.

"Fighting over immigration policy nearly destroyed the Sierra
Club's effectiveness once; it cannot be allowed to happen again by
electing people to the board whose purpose is to overthrow its
established policies. We should not be battling each other when
our main task must be to end the worst administration in the history
of our nation."
-- Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies,
Stanford University

"Sierra Club has an essential role and voice in the debate over
the health of our environment. It is crucial that this voice and
leadership are maintained and strengthened during these
challenging times."
--Carol Browner, Chair of National Audubon Society, former
EPA Administrator, 1993-2001.

"Now more than ever we need a strong Sierra Club. With the
Bush administration's assault on the environment, we need directors
who care about its 112- year mission. Please support these five
nominated candidates."
--Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Environmentalist and NRDC
Board Member

Learn more: http://www.groundswellsierra.org

** PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR SIERRA CLUB MEMBER FRIENDS **
By circulating this to your personal contacts, you can help support
the Sierra Club's democratic culture against outsider takeover.
Please don't spam; spam works against us.

________________

[DarkPhenyx]

1. I heard about this on NPR.

They were talking to the Pres of Sierra and he said it was crap. There is no real basis or validity to the story.

[ldoolin]

2. MoveOn is taking the wrong side in the Sierra Club controversy!

Do NOT vote for the above five candidates that MoveOn is endorsing! They are the people who tried to weaken Sierra Club democracy by making it harder for the membership to change club policy.

See Karyn Strickler's articles on this instead:

http://www.counterpunch.org/strickler03172004.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/strickler02132004.html

I'm recommending that you definitely vote for Karyn Strickler (who does NOT favor restricting immigration), Roy van de Hoek, and David Pimentel (who is neutral on immigration and thinks the Club should be addressing other issues, despite what Groundswell would have you believe about him). Who else you vote for is up to you, but don't vote for anyone endorsed by Groundswell.

And MoveOn can forget about me sending them any more money. They really blew it this time, by taking the side of the Sierra Club's conservative old boy's network over the grassroots petition candidates. To hell with "Groundswell Sierra" and anyone who lends them their endorsement.

[struggle4progress]

3. Link for position similar to MoveOn

A 'hostile' takeover bid at the Sierra Club
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0220/p01s04-ussc.html

Potential threat to Club

<edit: clarity>