 
The Sierra Club is unique among environmental organizations. The
club's activities include outings, conservation activism including
lobbying and political/electoral activity. We can do this because
we have our own PAC and our own Political Committee at the national,
state and local levels. The Sierra Club Political Committees evaluate the environmental voting records of elected officials using questionaires and interviews, recommends endorsements, and provides support to endorsed candidates. In this way, we hope to influence government to do a better job of protecting the environment. The Sierra Club Political Committee works with the League of Conservation Voters at the national level. Similarly, in our state, the Maryland Sierra Club's Political Committee coordinates its work closely with the Maryland League of Conservation Voters. Maryland Sierra Club political endorsements must be approved by bodies at two levels of the club: the group level and the chapter level. The Chapter Executive Committee (ExCom) has the final approval over endorsements for state and local races. The following endorsements are for the Primary Election on September 15th and for the General Election on November 3rd. Additional endorsements may be made for the General Election in the next issue of this newsletter. NOTE: You will note that the Chapter, at this time, has not officially endorsed any candidate for Governor and Lt. Governor and for U.S. Senate. We have left these endorsements off this current list because the candidates have not met with the Political Committee, one of the conditions for endorsement. If you have questions about this, contact Brian Parker at 410-661-7484.
First in a continuing series of profiles of elected officials who actually work to protect Maryland's environment. Senator Brian Frosh Environmentalists call him "the champion." And who can argue? Bethesda Senator Brian Frosh, after two terms in the State Senate, can point to a litany of accomplishment that would include more environmental legislation with more major significance than any other legislator in the State. In just the last term, Sen. Frosh was the key to passing all of the major environmental initiatives such as Smart Growth, Brownfields, and legislation relating to pfiesteria. Frosh serves on the critically important Senate Economic and Environmental Affairs committee and is an influential leader on the Senate floor. Even more important, Frosh is often called on to be the chief negotiator in the all-important conference committees charged with haggling out differences between the generally pro-environment Senate and the less environmentally minded House. His tough negotiating in conference has generally kept the important legislation from being hopelessly watered down. Frosh is well-liked by environmentalists and legislators alike. Dru Schmidt-Perkins, who works for an anti-sprawl group says, "Frosh is a hard-working, clear-thinking, and strategic leader on environmental issues in the Senate. No question about it." But she also points out that he isn't viewed as a simply green single-issue legislator and that "he's knowledgeable and active and he's remarkably well-respected among his colleagues." Frosh says he's proud of the larger accomplishments but he reminds that the progress came in the past two years. "In the first two years of the term we were on the defensive and our biggest accomplishment was killing a bunch of stuff." As an example, he says the bill he helped kill that would have
restricted Maryland regulations to be no stricter than federal
standards "would have put Newt Gingrich in charge of cleaning
up the Bay." But Frosh also points to one of his "smaller" bills
requiring very simply that the Department of Environment generate
a report on their enforcement efforts. The bill, he says, "sensitized
the Department" to a lack of enforcement activity and finally
gave the enforcers the wherewithal to In the coming term, Frosh sees the complex deregulation of electric utilities as potentially having a major impact on the environment, impact the legislature will need to protect against. He also sees a battle brewing over transportation funding--where the money comes from and where it goes. "We'll need to look out for pedestrian, bicycling and mass transit interests." And he says he's interested in exploring legislation that would encourage low impact development rather than the bulldozer-influenced tracts built most often. He says, however, that many of the coming gains "may not be on traditional environmental battlefields" and that we'll need to continue to work hard to protect Maryland's environment. Delegate James Hubbard Always hard at work, Delegate Jim Hubbard speaks a mile a minute over his mobile phone, rattling off all the plans he has for the upcoming legislative session. Yes, of course there's the difficult matter of being re-elected, and yes he's working hard running form event to event and door to door. But he says, "there's just so much more that we need to do for the environment." Hubbard, who just finished his second term in the House of Delegates, prides himself on a perfect eight-year environmental voting record despite being on the difficult Environmental Matters Committee. But he is also recognized as one of the most important environmental leaders in the legislature. During the session, Hubbard chairs the "Green Caucus," an unofficial committee of state legislators working on environmental bills. But most importantly, fellow legislators look for Jim for help on the issues. From suburban Prince Georges County, Hubbard is active on the entire range of environmental issues. He was a chief sponsor of the 1997 legislation setting up a commission on environmental justice. And Hubbard has been active on lead paint poisoning issues. Looking ahead, Hubbard says that more needs to be done to strengthen the recently enacted "Smart Growth" and "Rural Legacy" programs to stop sprawl. He says more needs to be done on Pfiesteria and agricultural runoff noting, "we've not done enough to protect this state environmentally or economically." And Hubbard says we need to do more about automobile air pollution, specifically looking at ways to remove sulfur from fuels. "Basically," Hubbard says, "we need to watch what we've done and be sure we protect what we have." Leon Billings One would think that Delegate Leon Billings probably has one of the most frustrating jobs in the entire legislature. As a former staffer to the late Senator Edmund Muskie, Billings literally wrote the landmark environmental legislation of our time--the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972. Today, he sits on the House Environmental Matters Committee, which by all accounts, is a pretty tough place for environmentalists. But Billings seems to enjoy the work. On every major environmental issue, it is Billings who goes head-to-head with the hostile committee members. Dru Schmidt-Perkins, Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Maryland says, "it is great to have someone like Leon on our side at the state level. He has a great depth of knowledge on all the issues, but especially those relating to federal programs." Billings says, assuming he is re-elected, he's looking forward to a new session. "We need to address the broader issues of runoff into waterways, and we also need to look for ways to preserve our rural economy." He also thinks fisheries and air quality concerns need attention. Sometimes Del. Billings's work deals with defense. His work in committee has kept bad bills from getting worse. And he helped keep bills like the Smart Growth program and the pfiesteria legislation from being so hopelessly watered down as to be worthless. He says the more environmentally-friendly Senate "gets to play the offense and move environmental legislation forward. In the House, we have to play defense, especially in the committee. And everyone knows you can't win without a good defense." Primary Election Day September 15 General Election Day November 3
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crack down on polluters.
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