In the world of term limits, it has become more and more difficult to find legislators who fully grasp the complexity of environmental issues and have the ability to navigate through the legislative process to pass strong legislation. This makes Assemblymember Betsy Butler a diamond in the rough.
In her first year in office, Butler was able to pass an amazing six bills out of the legislature including landmark legislation that bans toxic bisphenol-A (BPA) from sippy cups and baby bottles. Despite the enormous pressure exerted by industry lobbyists demanding legislators to turn a blind eye to the growing evidence that BPA was toxic to children, Butler worked with environmentalists and public health advocates to pressure even industry-friendly legislators to support her bill. It’s hard to understate just how monumental a feat this is considering that California was the industry’s Alamo. While BPA had been banned in 11 other states before us, California is so important and influential that the day the bill became law, the industry switched its thinking on BPA.
But having an environmental champion like Betsy Butler (100% CLCV score) didn’t just happen overnight. This was a long time in coming. Before being elected to Assembly, Butler worked for CLCV, Environmental Defense Fund, and our allies at the Consumer Attorneys of California. Combine that with her experience working for Former Speaker of the Assembly Leo McCarthy, and it’s not a surprise that Butler’s signature legislative accomplishment was the ability to get a strong bill that was a high priority for environmental and consumer coalitions signed into law after countless failed attempts in the past. No easy task for a freshman legislator.
It also should come as no surprise that Butler has been attacked by big polluters and anti-consumer corporate interests for most of her political career. During her Assembly bid in 2010, Big Oil, Big Insurance, and the Banksters spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in mailers lying about her in an attempt to defeat her. This won national attention, as the attacks were so crude and profuse that people stopped believing them. As Robert Elisberg said at the time, “…anyone who is making big oil, drugs and insurance companies want to defeat her so badly…she must be doing something right.” Considering her accomplishments also include authoring and co-authoring legislation to incentivize electric vehicles and creating clean alternative energy jobs, he was absolutely right. And 2012 is another opportunity for them to try to knock her out.
After the decennial redistricting, Butler’s former district was split into three parts, and she is now running in a competitive race in the new Assembly District 50, which includes the northern most part of her old district. This encompasses the coastal communities from Malibu to Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and West LA. Butler has a long record of service in this new district, as CLCV’s LA office has always been within the district lines, and she has served for many years on several boards in the district including other progressive groups such as the National Women’s Political Caucus and Equality California, who have joined CLCV and the Sierra Club in endorsing Assemblymember Butler for re-election. Butler has a strong record for standing up for the people against special interests, and we know she will serve this district just as well.
Big Corporations may have an army of lobbyists in Sacramento, but we are lucky enough to have Assemblymember Butler there representing us. That’s why we need to make sure we re-elect Betsy Butler to the Assembly. With both CLCV and the Sierra Club endorsing Betsy Butler, one thing is certain, in the race for Assembly District 50, Betsy Butler is the clear environmental choice.
