Okay, CLCV can’t really make it rain. Considering the water problems California will be facing in the coming years, we wish we could. We’d probably even settle for making it drizzle.
But while we can’t control the weather, we can and do help level the political playing field against polluter interests that threaten every Californian’s right to clean water and clean air. In fact, California Watch recently ranked CLCV as the 50th top political donor in California from 2001-2011 in their report “The Rainmakers.”
This is no small feat considering this list includes financial heavy-hitters like teacher unions, Big Oil, and pharmaceutical and tobacco companies.
It’s notable that CLCV is one of only two environmental groups that made the list, and the other group, Nature Conservancy (ranked 37), does not contribute to candidates — only to ballot initiatives. This demonstrates that CLCV has been the state leader in electing environmental candidates to California office.
Perhaps more interesting is what this list of “campaign elites” does not say: while polluters like Chevron have contributed more money and therefore outrank us on this list (they were ranked 6), CLCV still manages to help our environmental candidates win the vast majority of the time. This is in spite of the fact that though we often get outspent by them at least 3:1 and sometimes by as much as 10:1 in any given competitive race.
While polluters may have deep pockets, we’re able to level the playing field because of the action of our tens of thousands of active and engaged grassroots members and from millions of dollars contributed from individual environmental voters.
The truth is that CLCV is a top political player because of legions of environmentally-concerned people like you. Thanks for what you do to ensure CLCV is able to do what we do best: elect strong environmental leaders. And if you’re feeling generous, please make a contribution today, to help us continue our work in this critical election year and to continue to be a top political player in the decade to come.
