Election 2008 News

Congressmen Altmire, Carney, Patrick Murphy, Sestak Also Earn Support for Reelection
   
Philadelphia, PA—PennEnvironment today endorsed Barack Obama for President, citing his clear and bold solutions to our current energy woes and strong commitment to the protection of our environment. 

“Senator Obama has publicly committed to fully addressing the pressing problem of global warming and moving the United States toward a new energy future.  He has made clean energy one of the top issues of his campaign, and as a public servant at the state and federal levels has a long and consistent record of supporting the environment,” said David Masur, Director of PennEnvironment.

PennEnvironment also announced its endorsement of four members of Pennsylvania’s delegation to the U.S. Congress: Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-4th District) who represents the Pittsburgh suburbs; Rep. Chris Carney (PA-10th District) representing part of northeastern Pennsylvania; Rep. Patrick Murphy (PA-8th) representing Bucks County and sections of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties; and Rep. Joseph Sestak (PA-7th), representing most of Delaware County and parts of Montgomery and Chester counties.

“These four members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation have led by example and been the sort of environmental champions that we need in Washington DC,” stated Masur. “Representatives Altmire, Carney, Murphy and Sestak all received 100 percent environmental scorecards from PennEnvironment this year for their voting record in Congress. They worked hard to protect Pennsylvania’s environment for future generations, and they deserve re-election.”

PennEnvironment’s endorsement of Barak Obama for president was coordinated with Environment America and its federation of 25 other state environmental organizations, which represent more than 750,000 citizen members and activists nationwide. 

PennEnvironment has received significant support from citizen members from across Pennsylvania who sent in comments in response to the endorsement decision over the last few weeks, including:
•    “We need to elect Senator Obama.  His winning the election is this country's best hope for strong environmental polices,” wrote Gerrie F. of Pittsburgh.
•    “My opinion is that he is sincerely interested in protecting and preserving the environment,” emailed Daniel P of Robesonia.
•    “Obama is clearly the better--indeed the only sensible--choice for President.  His record on environmental matters is by far the better, and we should be doing everything we reasonably can to see him elected,” emailed Emerson A. of Philadelphia.

As a part of its endorsement, PennEnvironment released a video that included a sampling of Environment America members from across the country, making the case for Senator Obama as the next environmental president in their own words.  The video can be viewed at https://www.pennenvironment.org/issues/election-2008.

“Over his career as a U.S. Senator, Obama has voted with PennEnvironment 86 percent of the time, including achieving a 90 percent on the 2008 Environment America Congressional scorecard,” stated PennEnvironment Director David Masur. “His one vote missed in our 2008 scorecard was an absence rather than a vote in opposition.” 

By comparison, Senator McCain has an extremely disappointing lifetime voting score of 30 percent for votes scored by PennEnvironment.  John McCain has voted against requiring polluters to pay for clean-up of toxic waste sites; he voted against the public’s right to know about pollution in their communities; and Senator McCain has voted to weaken safe drinking water protections.

“Despite his willingness to buck his party on the existence of global warming which we very much appreciate, John McCain just isn’t the president we need to reverse eight years of the anti-environmental Bush administration,” noted Masur.

PennEnvironment’s national federation has prepared a report on the environmental records of both candidates, including their lifetime environmental voting records, which is available at https://www.pennenvironment.org/issues/election-2008.

“PennEnvironment is committed to working with our federation of state organizations to mount an aggressive effort to secure a victory for Barack Obama, including grassroots outreach to our members and the public,” stated Masur. “Barak Obama is clearly the best choice for protecting Pennsylvania’s environment and breaking through the polluters’ lobbyists and Washington DC’s addiction to Big Oil.