The Virginia League of Conservation Voters 2000 Virginia General Assembly Conservation Scorecard Virginia League of Conservation Voters 530 East Main Street, Suite 914 Richmond, Virginia 23219 (804) 225-1902 l Fax: (804) 225-1904 Web: [email protected] email: [email protected] OUR PURPOSE The mission of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters (VALCV) is to preserve and enhance the quality of life of all Virginians by making conservation a top priority with Virginia’s elected officials, political candidates, and voters. Seventy-five percent of the American people consider themselves “environmental- ists,” and twenty-three percent say they The Virginia League of Conservation have voted for or against a candidate based Voters is a non-profit 501 (C) (4) on environmental issues. VALCV believes, organization. We depend on member therefore, that environmentally concerned citizens represent a huge potential force in contributions and use part of these electoral politics. contributions to help elect friends of conservation to state and local office. Candidates for elected office often are not Funds for political purposes are asked to articulate their positions on local directed to the VALCV Political conservation issues by the public or by the Action Committee. media. Yet conservation concerns such as a sprawl, the quality of our drinking water, Gifts to the Virginia League of the disposal of our waste, and the sanctity of Conservation Voters or its political our remaining open spaces are issues that action committee are not tax are important to our voters. deductible. VALCV is a non-partisan political action arm of the Virginia’s conservation community. It takes its franchise from the local, region- al, and state conservation groups that define the issues and priorities. because most of these groups are 601 (c) (3) status and, therefore, cannot engage in electoral politics, we undertake that effort on their behalf. We invite you to join our efforts to become the strongest possible political force for conservation in Virginia. ✄ VIRGINIA LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS 530 East Main Street, Suite 914; Richmond, Virginia 23219 YES — COUNT ME IN! I want to help VALCV hold Virginia’s elected officials accountable for protecting our resources. ( All membership categories are eligible to receive newsletters and legislative alerts.) c $25 Basic individual membership c $40 Basic family membership Please print c $50 Key Contributor Name: __________________________________________ c $100 Environmental Hero Address: ________________________________________ c $250 Green Space Guardian ________________________________________ c $500 Preservation Patron Phone: ( )__________ Day Phone: ( )__________ c $1000+ Conservation Champion Email: _________________________________________ c I wish to make an additional contribution to the VALCV Political Action Committee to directly enable more conservation candidates to win elections. $ _________ c Contact me about how I can get involved with the VALCV and/or campaigns so I can make a difference. A Proud Tradition Worth Legislator “Heroes” 100% Voting Record HOW TO CONTACT US Preserving Virginia League of Conservation Voters House of Delegates Party District We Virginians cherish our heritage. We also 530 East Main Street love our land. We all want clean air, clean Suite 914 Jim Almand D 47 water, preservation of our heritage, and Richmond, Virginia 23219 Ward Armstrong D 11 protection of our farmland and forests. (804) 225-1902 l Fax: (804) 225-1904 Bob Brink D 48 website: www.VaLCV.org Whitt Clement D 20 Karen Darner D 49 Too often, however, our government has email: [email protected] George Grayson D 97 allowed our history to be paved over, our Joe May R 33 air and waters to become polluted, and our Michelle McQuigg R 51 productive land to be wasted in poorly WHO WE ARE Ken Plum D 36 planned development projects. Albert Pollard D 99 BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Lacey Putney* I 19 Virginia deserved elected officials who are Marian VanLandingham D 45 Marcia de Garmo, President responsive to the people. We must urge Mitch Van Yahres D 57 Robert B. Moler, Vice-President them to accept that challenge to protect Jeff Kohlhas, Secretary Virginia’s natural resources, our abundant Paul Hasse, Treasurer wildlife, and our irreplaceable historic sites Senate Party District Bessie B. Carter if they care about the kind of Virginia we Emily Couric D 25 Bradley Davis leave to our children. Richard Holland* D 15 Eve P. Fout Patsy Ticer D 30 Loren W. Hershey Mary Margaret Whipple D 31 Know the Score E. Scott Kasprowicz Congratulations! By picking up this Stella M. Koch Scorecard, you’ve taken the first step Anna L. Lawson toward protecting Virginia’s environment. Christopher G. Miller Knowing how your legislators vote on key Jeffrey S. Osborn Legislator “Zeroes” 0% Voting Record bills is the first step toward holding them Jean Perin accountable and making conservation a top Brooks C. Place House of Delegates Party District priority. Eric Cantor R 73 Dick Cranwell D 14 This is the first conservation Scorecard ADVISORY COUNCIL: Thelma Drake R 87 compiled by the newly formed Virginia Glen Besa, Sierra Club Roger McClure R 67 League of Conservation Voters. VaLCV Bob McDonnell R 84 Jean Brown, Scenic Virginia would like to acknowledge the other Frank Ruff R 61 conservation organizations who worked so Andy Fellows, Clean Water Action Beverly Sherwood R 29 diligently in previous years to publish Jean Ann Feneis, Voters to Stop Sprawl Frank Wagner R 21 scorecards. Gratitude is owed to the Sierra Stella Koch, Audubon Naturalist Society Leo Wardrup R 83 Club-Virginia Chapter and Clean Water Joe Maio, Scenic Virginia Glenn Weatherholtz R 26 Action. We also thank the staff and partici- Chris Miller, Piedmont Environmental Council “Chip” Woodrum* D 16 pating organizations of the Virginia Ann Riley, League of Conservation Voters - Education Fund Conservation Network for their invaluable Jason Rylander, Perkins Coie, L.L.P. guidance on the 2000 legislative issues. Senate Party District Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth Jim Sharp, Campaign Virginia Fred Quayle R 13 Marty Williams R 1 Danielle Stockton, Voters to Stop Sprawl Organizations are listed for identification only. * Note: Several legislators have an asterisk following their name. This means that the votering record is skewed due to abstentions or missed votes. The remaining votes EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: determine the score. Lisa M. Guthrie 12 1 It’s Not Too Late to Say Thanks No recorded votes are made available for or No Thanks! budget amendments. The votes selected for the VaLCV scorecard are the votes with How did your legislators do? While the narrow margins. Most of the environmen- 2000 session is long over, the 2001 tal emphasis in the 2000 session was on session is gearing up and will have many the landmark wetlands bills. more conservation bills for your legisla- tors to consider. Using No matter how hard we try to make our the legislative maps Scorecard reflective of a legislator’s per- and directory listed at formance, voting scorecards have limita- the back of the tions. It is difficult to record less tangible Scorecard, contact elements of lawmaking such as when a your delegate and vote was difficult for a legislator to make senator. Special due to political party affiliation or appreciation is due whether a legislator actively "worked" for the seventeen a bill by helping to build support for its "Heroes" but others passage. With carefully chosen votes, a deserve recognition as scorecard can give a picture of overall well. They will be performance. much more likely to respond favorably to Overview of the 2000 Session our requests if we take a moment to let Virginia Senatorial Districts As established 1991 More detailed legislative district information is available online at www.political1.com. The nontidal wetlands bills dominated them know that we value their past the environmental discussion during the efforts—especially on the tough issues. session. Due to the erosion of federal If your legislators appeared on the authority to stem wetlands losses from "Zeroes" list, they especially need to hear Tulloch ditching, Republicans and “Keep an eye on the VaLCV website from you! They need to know we are Democrats from both the House and www.valc.org which will be activated watching their actions and that we Senate stepped forward to patron nontidal soon as well as the VCN site deeply care about conservation issues. wetlands legislation. Despite efforts by www.vcnva.org to stay abreast of the You may even find that providing addi- the Homebuilder’s Association of Virginia Virginia legislative 2001 General tional information on various topics may to have legislation introduced to diminish Maps prepared by the Virginia, Maryland and Delaware Association of Electric Cooperative, December, 1991. Association of Electric Cooperative, December, Maryland and Delaware Maps prepared by the Virginia, Assembly action. The bill tracking site is make the difference in their votes next protections, the conservation community http://leg1.state.va.us/” time! pulled together to keep the focus square- ly on the original bills and not allow for a Keep an eye on the VaLCV website change in the definition of wetlands. www.valc.org which will be activated Passage of this legislation was truly a vic- soon as well as the VCN site tory for all of Virginia’s environmental www.vcnva.org to stay abreast of the advocates! Virginia legislative 2001 General Assembly action. The bill tracking site is http://leg1.state.va.us/ How The Scorecard Votes Were Chosen Experts from Virginia’s conservation organizations made recommendations to VaLCV on what votes should be included. It was a tough session to summarize because many bills during the 2000 General Assembly session were tabled in committee or carried over until the 2001 session to allow for more public input. 2 11 2000 Virginia League of VIRGINIA SENATE Conservation Voters District Delegate/Party HB 1170Wetlands HB 1223Billboards SB 648Wetlands ** SBStolle’s 695Substitute wetlands Score 2000 SESSION ✔ ✔ Legislative Scorecard 59 Abbitt (D) — 67% John H.