LCV's Obama Endorsement Is Misguided

July 21, 2008

Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) called the League of Conservation Voters' (LCV) endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for president a misguided decision that undervalues Senator John McCain's long record of leadership on climate change and other important environmental issues.

"What LCV fails to grasp is that passing strong climate change legislation requires the kind of dedication to the issue, leadership, and bipartisanship that Senator McCain has demonstrated repeatedly," REP President Martha Marks said.

"Senator Obama's climate plan, so far, is nothing more than an election-year promise designed to win him support from key Democratic constituencies. LCV has endorsed a Johnny Come Lately to the climate issue who has no history of bipartisan accomplishment to back up his proposal," Marks said.

"No member of Congress from either party has done more to move our nation towards an effective response to climate change than John McCain," said REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins. "In addition to leading the charge to craft and advance climate legislation, he has taken skeptical lawmakers to the ends of the earth to show them the impacts of climate change, educate them about climate research, and convince them that it's time to act. That's how you get things done in Washington."

"Frankly, I worry that Senator Obama's partisan tendencies, along with the partisan rhetoric coming from the LCV and Sierra Club, will further polarize the issue on party lines," Jenkins added. "We will not get the strong climate policy that our country needs if the issue is caught up in partisan politics."

REP pointed out that many of the swing votes on climate change are Republicans. "Those votes will swing the right way, only if we have a president who has a proven track record of reaching across party lines to craft legislation that can earn broad support. John McCain is that man," Marks said.

REP also praised Senator McCain's overall environmental record and cautioned voters against reading too much into the LCV scorecard ratings. "A scorecard can be a valuable accountability tool, but the LCV scores quoted for Senator McCain do not take into account his leadership on key issues, and are skewed low because of missed votes related to his presidential runs in both 2000 and 2008," said REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso.

"Senator McCain's record of environmental leadership goes far beyond climate change," said DiPeso. "Senator McCain was instrumental in protecting more than 3 million acres of wilderness lands in Arizona. He led the effort to rein in overflight noise at Grand Canyon National Park. He is a champion of protecting rivers and wetlands by reforming the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has bucked President Bush and GOP party leaders to stop persistent efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling."

"Senator McCain is a traditional conservative who will restore Theodore Roosevelt's conservation ethic to the White House. As a traditional conservative in the mold of the great Edmund Burke, Senator McCain understands our moral responsibility to protect our environmental inheritance for future generations," Jenkins said.