Or; Hypocrisy in action.
On March 26, 2014 Dan Benishek voted for HR 1459 which is written in a manner that will eliminate the ability of any President to designate National Monuments and Wilderness Areas. The next day, March 27, a full page ad in the Traverse City Record Eagle congratulated Benishek for being one of the co-sponsors of HR 163, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act.
Especially in an election year, this amounts to Greenwashing a climate denier, an anti-environment obstructionist, and one of those republicans who in his actions except one, actually hate our National Parks.
More details are below the squiggly thing.
Dan Beneshik, R - MI, 1st District, was in a tight race in 2012, and this year he is pitted against a strong candidate, Jerry Cannon. Lauding a congressman/candidate for what should be expected as part of the Michigan delegation provides environmental "cover" to somebody who is profoundly anti-environmental. The groups running the ad are:
- Black Star Farms
- Concerned Citizens of Acme Township
- ConservAmerica
- Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation
- The Homestead
- League of Michigan Bicyclists
- Michigan Environmental Council
- Michigan Land Use Institute
- My North Media
- The Pew Charitable Trusts
- Scenic Michigan
- Traverse bay Economic Development Corporation
- Traverse City Chamber of Commerce
- The Wilderness Society
While some of the sponsors of this ad are denialist or anti-environmental, some should know better. You can find an assessment of Benishek's environmental voting record on Vote Smart. Among reliable environmental groups; National Parks Conservation Association, The Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Clean Water Action, Environment America, Benishek's performance score is a whopping average of 2.5%. Contrast that with his 100% score for Percent Loyalty to Finance, Insurance, Real Estate Lobby.
Given Benishek's abysmal record an ad buy of this nature, in a campaign year, amounts to undisguised "Greenwashing" of a tea-partier. I am left disgusted and dismayed and some of those groups are going to be hearing from me; though what I can do amounts to pissing in the wind.