Land Use Watch primary endorsements…
January 9th, 2008
President: Hillary Clinton. You get two presidents for the price of one. Plus, Obama is an empty vessel with not much besides charm. To be honest, I believe that a female president will work far harder than a male president, and won’t get bogged down in various sexual scandals. But, most importantly, Clinton is the only one that can truly beat the GOP candidate… sadly, that may in part be because of The Bradley Effect… but whatever the case, a Dem is vital ALMOST SOLELY (in my opinion) to counterweight the huge GOP overweighting in the federal judiciary. The judiciary is where so many environmental issues are won and lost (and increasingly lost).
Plus, don’t you want to rub Drudge’s nose in it for posting increasingly cruel, crude, and unnecessary headlines about Clinton… from her “crying”, to the bogus rumor that she may drop-out, to photo close-ups of her (middle-aged) mouth and face. Come on! (Though I admit it… I love Drudge. I check his site probably 250 times a day, and I think he is doing a huge thing for the environment with his increasing focus on global warming and peculiar environmental issues generally… but his rank attacks on Democrats are certainly grating!)
(Full disclosure: I bought Hillary futures on intrade.com to win NH primary at about 5… and I bought Hillary futures for overall nomination at around 20…)
If I truly had my druthers, we might have Al Gore… but we can’t have him. And we need to be realistic about who can WIN in November. Do we need a President who is a member of a dangerous cult who believes that God lives on planet Kolob and whose felonious prophet received prophecy in “reformed Egyptian“? No! (And we don’t need a Senator who believes that crap either!) Do we need a crooked gangster who used the powers of his office to provide fancy services to his mistress? No! Do we need a religious creationist who doesn’t know what a writer’s strike is and who isn’t sure where Pakistan is? No! Do we need a Democratic candidate who can beat this flawed, flawed field of GOPers? Yes!
Oh, and what’s with the increasing “iron my shirt bitch” signs and comments attacking her? Did you see the YouTube video of some guys chanting that at her? Frankly, this will probably do her more good than harm… it isn’t like the flip-flop dudes attacking Kerry (showing up clapping flip-flops together at his every event). You truly see the distasteful idiots who oppose her…
OR Senate: Steve Novick! You can’t beat this guy! I don’t put much stock in his challengers (both primary or general). I’ve received a number of phone calls from their campaign… but I have been too busy trading futures to return them! I will return them.
Here’s one good reason why we need Novick:
> This Friday, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will close
> public comment on the Western Oregon Plan Revision, a Bush
> administration plan to nearly triple logging on 2.5 million acres of
> federal land in Western Oregon – including a 700 percent increase in
> cutting trees over 200 years old.
>
> The Bush administration clearly is trying to lock in these cut levels
> before they leave office, but we need to stand up for what is right
> for Oregon. Over the past decades, we’ve been adjusting our timber
> industry to mill smaller trees and build sustainable practices for the
> future – turning back to clear-cutting old growth is not the way to
> go.
>
> The proposed plan would also reduce protections for Oregon’s creeks
> and streams, logging over 200,000 acres of currently protected
> streamside forests and shrinking the buffer for streams and wetlands
> to 25 feet or even less. That is why a coalition of hunting and
> fishing groups from across Oregon has come together to oppose the
> draft plan.
>
> In this campaign, I’ve advocated sustainable forest practices –
> focusing our cuts in secondary growth, thinning smaller trees and
> reducing fuel loads in wilderness interface areas. And we need a
> major federal investment in cellulosic ethanol and biomass energy
> research to allow us to use our forests to reduce our dependence on
> fossil fuels.
>
> The BLM’s proposal to turn back the clock and accelerate old growth
> logging will not provide a sustainable basis for Oregon’s timber
> industry and threatens our natural heritage. It’s the wrong approach
> and they want to use the public’s land to do it.
>
> Please join me in taking a minute by Friday to voice your opinion on
> the plan. You can offer a public comment here on their website or use
> our website to write a letter to the editor of your local paper. It
> is up to us to demand change from our government. Please join me in
> standing up for our environment and our heritage.
>
> Thank you,
> Steve Novick
Remember, our Democratic governor thinks that these BLM plans rely on “good science”. We need someone to balance out the pathetic governor we have in this state.
OR Attorney General: Greg MacPherson. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Mostly when I say that phrase, I use it negatively. In this case, obviously, that’s not so. I dig his genial, intellectual approach to land use issues. I appreciated his careful and gracious handling of the contentious land use hearings earlier this year… er, last year. I witnessed first hand his ability to govern and manage.
I certainly appreciated his challenger’s push on green issues, but I tend to think that MacPherson will probably accomplish more with his even-keeled approach.
OR Governor: Ron Saxton. Oh, wait, we’re not electing a governor? Do you mind if I go back in time and change my vote to one AGAINST Kulongoski, the most anti-environment governor in the past 3 decades! Actually, scratch that. You know when you read some report about something costing $1 in 1920 but adjusted for inflation it actually is $25 in today’s money? If you adjust for the political climate we are now in (very environmentally aware), Kulongoski is THE most anti-environment governor Oregon HAS EVER HAD!
He appoints GOPers to head land use agencies, he supports BLM revisions, he wants casinos in the Gorge, he wanted to give transferability to Measure 37 claimants (his own party had to tell him NO on this one), he doesn’t give a penny about LNG on Oregon’s coast… and on and on and on.
So, to recap…
President: Hillary Clinton
Senator: Steve Novick
Attorney General: Greg MacPherson
Governor: Ron Saxton
Related posts: George Advertising not in violation, Liz Kaufman and the battle against Measure 37, Land Use Watch Oregon Ballot Measure positions
4 Comments Add your own
1. jason | January 9th, 2008 at 12:30 am
Not bad, I lean a little more towards Edwards then Clinton, but not a big deal.
I really do like MacPherson.
Novick i have meet several times. He just doesn’t do it for me. I am not happy about the choices in that race. I don’t get it, why didn’t Wu or Defazio or Kitzhaber or lots of other people step up for this race? Oh well…
2. peter | January 9th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Yeah, I think Edwards is great… his policies are right on.
However, environmentally, I believe Clinton will be best. Her husband, after all, declared huge swaths of BLM land as monuments, and made massive roadless areas off-limits. These have been significantly weakened since Bush.
They say Gore had a lot to do with these decisions… maybe so.
But I believe H. Clinton will continue and reinforce that legacy.
I just don’t know about Obama on this front… he’s an urban dude (no stereotypes, just facts) who will do the “energy thing” (feh), and who doesn’t have much appreciation for green things beyond that.
Then again, Obama talks about his votes opposing Tongass roads and preserving the “great lakes” (uh, okay)… Clinton just talks about energy…
But I personally believe that Clinton is far more “left” than her campaign is currently projecting… she is running centrist, centrist, centrist… but her history speaks to pretty progressive roots. At least in my opinion.
3. Robert Storm | January 10th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Well, I voted for Saxton.
BOY, am I glad he lost.
If Saxton would have won we would be in full-blown measure 37 mode right now.
It was at the Governers prodding that the legislature took aim at M37.
Other than that, he has been rather dissapointing.
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