Is the Sierra Club issuing boilerplate responses re: Chafee endorsement?

[T Roosevelt]

Seems like it. I sent an email to the Sierra Club about their endorsement of Chafee. Here is their response followed by my letter:

The Sierra Club publicly announced its endorsement of Senator Lincoln Chafee on Wednesday, April 19th. While this announcement may appear controversial to some, Senator Chafee is a key leader in our work towards a pro-environment majority in the Senate. As a key member of the Environment and Public Works Committee and chair of the subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Water, he has consistently demonstrated independence and leadership on issues ranging from clean air, to global warming, to cleaning up toxic waste and protecting special places. Some of the highlights include:

A champion for rallying colleague votes to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
A leader who single-handedly made sure the Clean Air Act was not weakened to produce more polluting oil refineries
A thoughtful Senator who is making sure that the Endangered Species Act is preserved despite attacks from special interests.

The Sierra Club Political Committee has a policy of generally endorsing incumbents who have solid environmental records. Senator Chafee meets that criteria with his League of Conservation Voters scorecard ranking of 90%. In addition, the Sierra Club analyzes votes for a scorecard we send out to our members. In 2004, our own analysis of 4 key votes showed he voted correct on 100%. While we are still putting together this cycle's scorecard, we have reviewed 6 environmental votes and one trade vote. Chafee voted correct on 100% of the environmental votes.

Even with a great record on environmental issues, any endorsement requires a 2/3s vote by two volunteer committees - one at the local level and one at the national level. Sierra Club volunteers at several levels of the Club were engaged in this endorsement. The Rhode Island political committee and the Rhode Island Executive Committee both voted unanimously in favor of endorsing, and the volunteer national Political Committee voted unanimously too.

The Board of Directors' appointed Task Force that reviewed the goals and the underlying strategies of the political program concluded that there should continue to a focus on conducting our work and making our endorsements in a manor that works to protect our reputation and credibility. The underlying reason for this recommendation was:

"The strength of our endorsements and our reputation is in our ability to declare in a nonpartisan/bipartisan manner which candidate is the best choice for the environment. Our opponents seek to diminish our power in this arena by labeling us as a special interest, so we need to constantly strive to maintain our reputation."

The Sierra Club's decision to endorse and draw attention to our support of Senator Lincoln Chafee fits solidly with the mission of the political committee to use the political and electoral process to advance our conservation goals.

Regards,
Political Desk

As a former member of the Sierra Club (sorry for the lapse), I would like to understand why you would endorse Lincoln Chafee.

"The club said a vote for Chafee is better than a vote for a Democrat because of his position as a dissident within the majority party."

This has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard, and given that George Bush is president, that says alot. His position as a "dissident" is worthless, since he is almost a minority of one in a party whose policies are anti-environment, which is to say anti-Sierra Club. Just look at NARAL and their (lack of) success at keeping anti-choice judges off the Supreme Court. And they endorsed Chafee as well.

Please, if you can't manage to support the candidate whose party will actually implement the policies you are calling for, then withhold your endorsement. To do otherwise is a waste of an endorsement, and any money that goes with it. It also provides cover to the Republicans, because now they can claim that they have the endorsement of a major environmental activist group. True? No. Do they care? No.

Just out of curiousity, did the Sierra Club interview any of Chafee's potential Democratic challengers?

For the record, I was going to renew my membership, but given this endorsement, I am going to send my $39 to Sheldon Whitehouse. I feel it will be money better spent.