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Taking Off the Gloves: Defend Boxer

Senator Barbara Boxer is the #1 Senate target of Republicans in the 2004 elections. Emboldened by the recent election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republicans believe they can seize other high offices through highly financed and publicized campaigns.

During her eleven years in the Senate, Barbara Boxer has relentlessly promoted environmental legislation and has received numerous awards in recognition of her efforts. These include CLCV's own 2003 Environmental Leadership Award. Earning a lifetime score of 93% from the national LCV, Boxer has been an invaluable champion for the environment. As a strong voice for environmental issues in Washington, D.C., Senator Boxer has helped stop recent attempts to open California's coast and the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge for oil drilling, allow higher levels of arsenic in drinking water, and weaken or under-fund environmental programs such as cleaning up toxic Superfund sites.

In contrast, Republican frontrunner and former Secretary of State Bill Jones accumulated a lifetime CLCV score of 23% while serving in the Assembly—with an average score of 9% in his last five years (1990-1994). As a result of his environmental voting record resurfacing this year, Governor Schwarzenegger withdrew Jones' nomination from consideration for Secretary of Resources. His voting record placed him squarely on the wrong side of a number of important environmental principles including:

• Coastal protection and restoration
• The labeling and regulation of pesticides
• Clean air standards and air pollution control measures

Jones appears to pose the largest threat to Boxer's seat, having successfully won statewide elections in the past. He is also running with the endorsements of former Governors Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian, not exactly environmental champions. While early polls have shown Jones with 17% of support, his opponents for the Republican nomination barely register on the Richter scale.

Among the other candidates, Rosario Marin has aligned herself with the values of President Bush, by far the worst president on environmental issues the nation has ever had. Despite Californians' overwhelming support for the environment, Marin hopes to gain mass appeal by emphasizing how, like Schwarzenegger, she is “not a conventional Republican,” largely due to her status as an immigrant. Toni Casey, another candidate and staunch Bush supporter, served as Co-Chair for “Bush 2000” for two Bay Area counties, and served on the Bush Finance Committee of Northern California. All of the GOP candidates intend to build a base for conservatives in a state that has traditionally been progressive and that in recent years has been proud to elect Democratic senators with the will to stand up to President Bush's irresponsible and damaging policies.

Protecting California's environmental leadership is more critical now than ever before. It is crucial that environmentalists demonstrate early support for environmental leaders up for re-election in 2004. With the election of a Republican governor in a state that tends to be liberal, conservatives are preparing for a massive takeover of other valuable political seats. We cannot risk losing years of hard-earned environmental progress.

What You Can Do

In addition to voting Yes for Boxer in March and November, it is imperative that a larger number of informed voters show their support. Please write a letter to the editor of your newspaper, stressing the importance of re-electing strong environmental leaders like Barbara Boxer. See below for information on some of California's major newspapers.

We recommend that you use 2 or 3 points at most and keep your letter to about 250 words. Most newspapers require that letters be signed and include an address and daytime phone number for verification. More tips.

Also, please fax (510.271.0901) or e-mail (ecovote@ecovote.org) a copy of your letter to CLCV!

"Letters to the Editor" addresses for some major papers:

Newspaper	Email address	Postal address	Fax number
Los Angeles Times	letters@latimes.com	Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053-9933	213.237.7679
Sacramento Bee	opinion@sacbee.com	PO Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852-0779	916.321.1996
San Francisco Chronicle	chronletters@sfgate.com	901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103-2986	415.543.7708
San Jose Mercury News	letters@sjmercury.com	750 Ridder Park Dr., San Jose, CA 95190	408.271.3792

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