TX-32 Will Pryor on the Environment

by: Whiskey Sam on Mon Oct 16, 2006 at 11:32:29 AM CDT

Please see prior diaries about Will Pryor here, here, and here

Have any of you thought about what it must take to get a ZERO on something?  Seriously, have any of you managed to obtain a ZERO on an exam?  It's not exactly easy to do, at least not if you're trying at all. 

Planned Parenthood
NARAL
The Humane Society
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Society for Animal Protective Legislation
Americans for the Arts
The National Trust for Historic Preservation
Public Citizens Congress Watch (an accountability group - surprise)
The American Civil Liberties Union
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
The Human Rights Campaign
The National Education Association
The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
The American Wilderness Coalition
The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund
The League of Conservation Voters
Republicans for Environmental Protection
The Children's Defense Fund
Citizens for Global Solutions
Council on American/Islamic Relations
Peace Action
American Association of University Women
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
The Brady Campaign to Stop Violence
American Public Health Association
SEIU
American Federation of Government Employees
UAW
Alliance for Retired Americans
Disabled American Veterans (how do you claim to be Pro-America and get a ZERO for Disabled American Vets?)
Bread for the World

These are just some of the organizations that gave Pete a zero.  I didn't list all of them (for the sake of clutching at brevity) and I didn't list the numerous 11% or 7% voting records Pete has with other related organizations.

Look at the list?  Are any of those organizations' interests anywhere close to your own?  Seriously, how much of a twit do you have to be to receive a zero from the PTA? 

A ZERO from a group like the League of Conservation Voters means that Pete Sessions is ignoring the very real environmental problems in the DFW area. 

It also means that Pete is ignoring the environmental problems in surrounding counties, like Ellis County where TXI Cement, Owens-Corning, and half a dozen others dump millions of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere polluting and poisoning the residents of Midlothian, Cedar Hill, and most of southern Dallas County. 

However, Pete is apparently doing something right to please his Republican handlers.  He's apparently the front runner for the Chairmanship position of the NRCC.  From the Dallas Morning News

Mr. Sessions is the only Texan to receive Foley donations, federal campaign records show. He is a leader among House conservatives and is locked in a three-way race for chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the arm of the party charged with electing Republicans to the U.S. House. The outgoing chairman, Rep. Tom Reynolds, has seen his re-election prospects in upstate New York plummet amid questions about his role in keeping information about Mr. Foley and pages quiet.

Unbelievable!  But this underscores exactly why this race in the 32nd District in the heart of Dallas has national implications. 

Some of the groups listed above are important to many of us, including Will Pryor.  Like many of us, Will also wonders how it could be that anybody could receive a ZERO from the League of Conservation Voters? 

From Will's Blog

Donut. Goose egg. Bagel. Spare tire.

I am pleased and proud to have received the endorsement of the Sierra Club, and last night I had the opportunity with Lindsey to attend the monthly meeting of the Club's Lone Star Chapter and thank them.

Why do not more of us think of ourselves as environmentalists?

I believe the threat of global warming is real. I thought so before I saw "An Inconvenient Truth" this summer (see "The Heat is On" blog of August 3), but the movie educated and reinforced my concerns. I think "environmentalism" needs to become more mainstream. Maybe there is a way it could be emphasized in school curriculum for our children. But somehow, someway, more people need to move the environment up on their list of priorities. It needs to become socially unacceptable to drive certain cars, to not recycle, to not conserve.

Will isn't asking for big-government regulation limiting people's choices here, he's striving for a big picture shift in our collective consciousnesses.  This is a bold vision for our country.  An ideological target driven by education, not regulation.  By empathy and social awareness, not by rule of law. 

Will continues...

And to vote for anyone who has a zero percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, like my opponent!

Pete Sessions has earned a zero percent rating for each of the last three sessions of Congress for his votes on the environment. I looked it up the other day, never having given much thought to how hard it might be to achieve 0%. Let me tell you, it is really, really hard. It means that on the dozens and dozens of issues that come before the House of Representatives very year for the last six years, Pete has voted with the industry trade group, the polluter, etc.---EVERY TIME!

We all understand that Pete is a Republican.  Accordingly, we all understand that Pete puts the interests of corporate profits over the interests of the working class people who might have children born with birth defects due to corporate excesses.  We all get that.  But EVERY TIME?  What kind of a soulless person could be like that? 

What kind of issues are we talking about?  Saving a spotted/striped red-yellow amazonian lizard from extinction?  Not quite....

Clean air? Smokestacks in Ellis County? Gas mileage ratings for new cars? Clean water? Chemical additives that poison are groundwater? Oil drilling along our coastlines? Slashing funding for EPA enforcement? It has to be one of the most reliably predictable voting patters in Congress. You don't have to know the issue, you just have to know whether there is an industry trade group on one side, and consumers and the environmental community on the other, and you can predict with 100% certainty how Pete will vote.

It is astonishing. It is amazing.

And in my view, it is wrong.

Will gets it.  We need to get Will.  Pete Sessions is dangerous to the health and welfare of America's environment, and by association, to all of us.  His regressive policies must not find a bully pulpit in any kind of leadership position in the House....even if the (R)s wind up as a minority party. 

This is important on a National level.  This isn't just about the 32nd, which is why I continue to ask for your help. 

Like my other diaries, I'll end this one with a simple plea.  Pick up the phone and call your grandmother who lives in the 32nd.  Call your friend who lives in the 32nd.  Call your drunk Republican Uncle and tell him why he should vote for Will Pryor.  If you live in the 32nd, please consider volunteering. 
The most useful weapon we have against Pete Sessions and his barrels of money is the truth.  And our own voices.  Tell your church groups, tell your bridge clubs, tell your bowling team...  Stop being complacent with being the quiet Democrat on your street! 

And once you're through telling your friends, families and co-workers....ask them to tell THEIR friends, families and co-workers.

Wherever you live, please consider contributing.  The unfortunate reality is that you can't get the message to the masses without money.