Following on the heels of the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters has
endorsed Lincoln Chafee. They write:
"LCV is proud endorse Lincoln Chafee for re-election to the U.S. Senate," said LCV Senior Vice President for Political Affairs Tony Massaro. "Senator Chafee is a top environmental leader in Congress, fighting every day for the health, quality of life and pocketbooks of Rhode Island families, willing to stand up to big corporate polluters, and working tirelessly to protect our open spaces and wildlife for future generations. We urge all Rhode Island voters to join us in supporting Senator Chafee's re-election."
According to their scorecard, Chafee scored a 90%. But if you ever wondered about how valuable such scorecards are, well, here's something to chew on:
LCV said this about Judge Janice Rogers Brown when she was nominated for an appelate judgeship by Bush:
The D.C. Circuit is critical to environmental protection because it is this court that is empowered to hear most cases challenging environmental rulings and regulations issued by the EPA, the Department of the Interior, and other federal agencies. Justice Brown has shown in her opinions and other writings that she is likely to strike down many of the laws and regulations that protect the public health and environment because they may impinge on what she views as the overriding rights of property.
Ouch. Sounds horrible. And it is.
And Chafee voted to confirm her. Yet, not surprisingly, that vote isn't on LCV's scorecard.
In fact, go down the list of Bush appointees for judgeships, and Chafee voted for just about all of them.
How about Alito?
President Bush's nomination to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor poses a grave threat to our environment. Judge Samuel Alito's activist judicial record speaks to his hostility to the laws that govern our clean air, clean water, and public health.
Egads! And what did Chafee do? Yeah, yeah, he voted against Alito, but when it didn't matter. When it did, he voted for cloture. In effect, a vote for Alito.
So as Bush's judges continue their assault on the environment -- a decades-long assault that Chafee helped enable with his votes for those judges -- LCV and Sierra Club will only have themselves to blame.
Update: The Sierra Club's Carl Pope, just two weeks ago:
A Morally Bankrupt Bankruptcy Law
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Last year, Congress made it harder for ordinary families that have been financially devastated by health problems to declare bankruptcy. But Congress also made it easier for multinational polluters that create some of that devastation to get out of cleaning up their mess. A special investigative report by the Sierra Club shows that one company, the American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco), may be able to legally shift $500 million to $1 billion in cleanup responsibilities to taxpayers by reorganizing under the federal Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Code.
Guess who voted for the Bankruptcy Bill? Lincoln Chafee. Didn't seem to matter when a week later his organization endorsed Chafee.