Virginia General Assembly Conservation Scorecard
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2003 Virginia General Assembly Conservation Scorecard Virginia League of Conservation Vo t e r s 530 East Main Street, Suite 820, Richmond, Virginia 23219 Phone: (804) 225-1902 ❖ Fax: (804) 225-1904 [email protected] ❖ www.valcv.org Board of Directors Advisory Council Paul T. Hasse, Jean Brown, Chairman Scenic Virginia Marcia de Garmo, Stella Koch, Audubon Naturalist Society President Ian B. Abernethy Helen Tansey Lang, Representative at-large Bessie B. Carter Joe Maio, Eve P. Fout Voters to Stop Sprawl Loren W. Hershey Chris Miller, John B. Jaske Piedmont Environmental Council E. Scott Kasprowicz Jason Rylander, Anna Logan Lawson Community Rights Counsel Michael E. Liddick Stewart Schwartz, Christopher G. Miller Coalition for Smarter Growth George L. Ohrstrom, II Jim Sharp, Jacqueline Ohrstrom Campaign Virginia Jeffrey S. Osborn JoAnn Spevacek, Jean Perin Representative at-large Sallie Sebrell Doris Whitfield, Tony Vanderwarker Sierra Battlefields Group Executive Director Lisa M. Guthrie Program & Technical Assistant Stacy L. Reed The Vir ginia League of Conservation Voters is a 501(c)(4) organization. We depend on member contributions and use part of these contributions to help elect friends of conservation to state and local of fice. Funds for political purposes are directed to the VALCV Political Action Committee. Gifts to the Vir ginia League of Conservation Voters or its political action committee are not tax-deductible. 2003 Scorecard Acknowledgements Photo Credits: Lynda Blair, Saltbox Primitives; Henry Ruffin Broaddus; Frances Broaddus Crutchfield; Chesapeake Bay Foundation; James P. Waite; Dr. Ann M. Woodlief. Map Graphics: Commonwealth of Virginia ~ Division of Legislative Services Scorecard Design: Andrea Gaines ~ Concolour Creative Our Purpose A Proud Tradition The Vir ginia League of Conservation Vot e r s Worth Preserving (V ALCV) is the non-partisan political action arm of We Virginians cherish our heritage. We also love Vir ginia's conservation community. VALCV takes its our land. We all want clean air, clean water, franchise from the local, regional and state protection of our farmland and forests, and conservation groups that define the issues and preservation of our historical landmarks. priorities. Because most of these groups have a 501(c)(3) non-profit status, and theref o r e cannot Too often, however, our government has allowed engage in electoral politics, we undertake that effo r t our history to be paved over, our air and waters on their behalf. to become polluted, and our productive land to be wasted by poorly planned development. VALCV’s mission is to preserve and enhance the quality of life for all Vir ginians by making Virginia deserves elected officials who are conservation a top priority with Vir ginia's elected responsive to the people and the needs of the of ficials, political candidates and voters. environment. Vir ginia voters polled in 2001 and 2003 were We must urge our elected officials to accept the mo r e concerned about clean water and clean challenge to protect Virginia's natural resources, air than traffic congestion and the economy. our abundant wildlife, and our irreplaceable Eighty-seven percent of Vir ginians think historic sites. Virginians care about the integrity conservation issues are important factors when of the Commonwealth that is left to our children; deciding how to vote. Eighty-five to 90% of our elected officials should, too. Vir ginians want to preserve Vir ginia's rural character by investing in agriculture, forestry and natural “By picking up this Scorecard, res o u r ce based industries to conserve working farms, forests and open space. you've taken an important step toward We believe that environmentally concerned citizens protecting Virginia's environment.” rep r esent a huge potential force in electoral politics. Candidates for elected office often are not asked by Notable Delegate Albert Pollard, Jr. the public or the media to articulate their positions Number has received the 100% Legislative Hero award for on conservation issues. Yet conservation concerns 1 such as sprawl, the quality of our drinking water, the four consecutive years. disposal of our waste, and the sanctity of our — remaining open spaces continue to be important issues to voters. Notable Eighty-one percent of Virginia voters state that a candidate's Number position on growth, land use 81% and curbing sprawl will be an — important consideration in the next local and statewide election. (Mason-Dixon Virginia Voter Poll, January 2003) VALCV Conservation Score c a rd 2003 1 Know It’s Not Too Late To Say The Score Thanks! ( … Or No Thanks!) How did your legislators do this past session? The 2003 session has passed and the 2004 session will be gearing up, with many more conservation bills for your legislators to consider. Use the legislative maps and directory listed in the back of the Scorec a r d to contact the delegate and senator for your district. y picking up this Scorecard, you've taken an B Special appreciation certainly is due for our important step toward protecting Virginia's "Legislative Heroes." This year five Delegates and environment. Knowing how your legislators vote th r ee Senators made it on the list. Legislators in the on key bills is a key step toward holding them Top Quartile list and those who patroned conservation accountable and making conservation a top priority bills deserve recognition and thanks as well. (See in Virginia government. Our annual Conservation charts on pages 3 and 11.) Our legislators will be much Scorecard records the most important conservation mo r e likely to respond favorably to future requests if votes of each legislative year and is distributed to we take a moment now to let them know we value VALCV members, Virginia environmental their past efforts — especially on tough issues. organizations, elected officials at every level, and the news media. Now in its fourth year, the If your legislators appeared in the Bottom Quartile Conservation Scorec a r d has become the authoritative list, they especially need to hear from you! (See so u r ce on Vir ginia's environmental politics. chart on page 3.) These legislators need to know we are watching their actions, that we deeply care As a legislative watchdog, VALCV tracks the voting about conservation issues, and that they should too. records on key environmental, growth and funding You may even find that by providing additional proposals in the General Assembly. During each information on environmental issues, you could session we work hard to make sure legislators hear make a crucial difference in their votes next time! loud and clear from the conservation voters in their districts. Then at session's end we publish this Virginia Conservation Scorecard to help voters Legislator “Heroes” distinguish between the rhetoric and the reality of 100% Voting Record for 2003 a lawmaker's record. House Party District Baskerville (D) 71 Average Annual Scores Moran (D) 46 Pollard (D) 99 Thomas (D) 17 House Senate Van Landingham (D) 45 2000 51% 47% Senate Party District 2001 54% 57% Byrne (D) 34 2002 59% 45% Deeds (D) 25 2003 55% 30% Edwards (D) 21 2 VALCV Conservation Score c a rd 2003 How the Scorecard Votes and those who do not, often that vote is discarded as a Were Chosen. Sc o re c a r d vote. This is a natural limitation of a Scorec a r d that is particularly visible in a year when there are so few VALCV is an advocate for a wide spectrum of significant conservation initiatives. conservation initiatives while opposing ill-conceived legislation that takes Vir ginia's environmental prot e c t i o n s This year's Scorec a r d, in addition to providing scores for ba c k w a r d. We create this annual Conservation 2003 and 2002, also includes a cumulative average score Sc o re c a r d to illustrate the performance of our elected for each legislator. For this cumulative, we have of ficials during the legislative session on bills that have calculated the actual number of "right" votes by the an impact on conservation issues. Experts from legislator since VALCV began the Scorec a r d in 2000. Vir ginia's conservation organizations make The number of right votes is then divided by the total recommendations to VALCV on which votes should be number of votes possible for that legislator. This caref u l included. If a vote does not illustrate a clear distinction pr ocess allows the Conservation Scorec a r d to give a clear between those who support the conservation position pi c t u r e of a legislator's long-term performance. 2003 Top Quartile 2003 Bottom Quartile Score of 75% or Higher Score of 25% or Lower House Party District Score House Party District Score Dudley (R) 9 0 Alexander (D) 89 80 Marshall, D. (R) 14 20 Almand (D) 47 80 McDonnell (R) 84 25 Baskerville (D) 71 100 O’Bannon (R) 73 25 Bland (R) 63 80 Orrock (R) 54 17 Brink (D) 48 80 Reid (R) 72 25 Callahan (R) 34 80 Wardrup (R) 83 25 Darner (D) 49 80 Ware (R) 65 25 Hargrove (R) 55 80 Weatherholz (R) 26 14 Jones, S.C. (R) 76 75 Welch (R) 21 20 Landes (R) 25 80 Senate Party District Score McDougle (R) 97 80 McQuiqq (R) 51 83 Blevins (R) 14 0 Melvin (D) 80 80 Bolling (R) 4 20 Chichester (R) 28 0 Moran (D) 46 100 Colgan (D) 29 25 Parrish (R) 50 80 Cuccinelli (R) 37 17 Petersen (D) 37 80 Hanger (R) 24 12 Plum (D) 36 86 Hawkins (R) 19 20 Pollard (D) 99 100 Houck (D) 17 25 Rust (R) 86 80 Martin (R) 11 0 Scott (D) 53 80 Maxwell (D) 2 25 Spruill (D) 77 80 Miller, K.