Sierra Club Focuses on Sununu-Shaheen Race
By Riley Yates
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24, 2002–The Sierra Club, which believes Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has a better environmental record than that of her opponent, Republican Rep. John Sununu, has highlighted the New Hampshire Senate race as one of the few contests nationwide where environmental issues could swing an election.
“In New Hampshire, environmental issues are taking a more prominent role than ever,” Laura Scott, the chairwoman of environmental education for the Sierra Club’s New Hampshire chapter, said Tuesday at a press conference here.
“Most candidates want to be considered environmental candidates,” she said.
Scott said this environmental focus is surprising from a state with a conservative reputation, but she argued that residents “treasure the clean air and the open spaces we have” and vote with the environment in mind.
In view of this attitude, for the six weeks until the election the Sierra Club plans to send voter packets to New Hampshire residents that say Shaheen has done more for the environment than Sununu and to buy television and radio airtime for ads directed against Sununu.
The voter packets showcase three votes Sununu made in Congress that the Sierra Club says were anti-environment, including a 2000 vote exempting some businesses from cleaning up toxic waste Superfund sites, the main focus of the Sierra Club ads.
The Sierra Club also plans to continue with the grassroots organizing it began before the Sept. 10 primary, Scott said, attending farmers’ markets and county fairs and going door-to-door talking about the candidates’ environmental records.
Sununu’s record was first scrutinized during the GOP primary, when his opponent, Sen. Bob Smith–who won praise for being a conservative who opposed oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge–questioned Sununu on the environment several times, most notably during their televised debates.
Scott credited Smith’s campaign with bringing environmental issues to the forefront in New Hampshire politics.
“I think Smith pushed it [the environment] because he viewed Sununu’s environmental record as one of his weaknesses, which it is,” Scott said.
Julie Teer, Sununu’s campaign spokeswoman, called the Sierra Club’s portrayal of Sununu unfair.
“It’s a partisan group,” Teer said. “Ninety percent of their resources go to electing Democrats.”
“This is absolutely 100 percent political,” she added.
Teer defended Sununu’s record, highlighting legislation to protect a 12-mile section of the Lamprey River that he authored in 1999 and helped pass.
“When you see John Sununu’s record,” Teer said, “it is a record of preservation and results.”
“John has worked to strike the critical balance between protecting the environment and promoting New Hampshire’s economic growth,” she said.
Published in The Manchester Union Leader, in New Hampshire.
