Martha Marks celebrates REP's official launch
—ta da!—at the steering committee's meeting in
Jacksonville, FL, in March of 1996.

It was ten years ago this spring—March of 1995 to be precise—when a fortuitous set of circumstances brought together three women at an environmental conference in Maryland, where they discovered they had three things in common. They were all environmentalists. They were all lifelong Republicans. They all felt that somebody needed to do something to restore the GOP’s once-great tradition of environmental protection and natural resource conservation.

That encounter might easily never have happened. It was the first environmental conference I had ever attended outside of Illinois. Neither Aurie Kryzuda of San Diego nor Kim O’Keefe of Jacksonville were familiar faces at national events. If we hadn’t met that weekend, we never would have met, and our lives would have gone on in different directions.


REP co-founder Aurie Kryzuda

We did meet, however. We did talk. We did share our frustrations with the anti-environmentalism of Republican leaders and, especially, with the “Gingrich Revolution,” which was then in its first hundred days of targeting environmental laws through the “Contract with America.”

The ten years since have been amazing. There’s no way I can fully recapture all the exciting, despairing, aggravating, and exhilarating times I’ve shared with Aurie, Kim and other REP leaders and members. But I would like to hit the highlights of what we’ve done this past decade and then tell you where REP is headed in its second decade.

This is only the second lead article I have written for The Green Elephant since we started publishing it in the spring of 1997. My first was written on January 1, 2000, when—filled with new-millennium hopes—I had reason to believe that the anti-environmental tide might be turning. Unfortunately, as we now know, that belief was premature. But hope springs eternal, and when it joins hands with hard, gritty work in the organizational trenches, I still believe we can win this fight.

Highlights of a decade of exploration and growth are easy to recall and fun to celebrate. Low moments are equally easy to recall—though not so fun—and do have value, if only for the lessons we learned from them.

Attendees at REP America's very first annual meeting, held in Florida's Wakulla Springs State Park in October, 1996: Bill Detwiler (PA), Kathy Roediger (AZ), Jeff Palmer (FL), Vince Williams (GA), Kim O'Keefe (FL), Martha Marks (IL), Andrew Eristoff (NY), Sam Booher (GA), Craig Kenworthy (KS), Merideth Mueller (NJ), Jim DiPeso (WA), Aurie Kryzuda (CA) and Rich Warnick (UT).

The following years brought new achievements:

• The 1999 creation of our “sister” foundation, ConservAmerica, which is non-partisan.
  
  
• Our 1999 “Republican Environmental Summit,” which brought to Orlando a small group of GOP and environmental leaders, including Theodore Roosevelt IV, who spoke at our dinner and the next day joined us for a nostalgic bus-and-barge trip to Pelican Island NWR, the first refuge set aside by his great-grandfather.
  
  
  Theodore Roosevelt IV feeds an injured manatee at
  Sea World as Florida REP member Allison DeFoor looks on.
  
  
  Mr. Roosevelt gives the dinner speech at REP's
  1999 "Republican Environmental Summit, hosted by Sea World in Orlando.
  
  
  
• Our 1999 Capitol Hill Club thank-you reception for our Congressional heroes, which attracted a dozen representatives and helped make REP “real” in their eyes.
  
  
  Shown are some of the REP members who attended our 1999
  Capitol Hill Club reception: Jim Scarantino (NM), Chester Sansbury (SC),
  Charlie Howell (TN), John Walther (IL) and Kathy Roediger (AZ)
  
  
  Two of the dozen "Republican Environmental Heroes" whom we met
  for the first time at our Capitol Hill Club reception: Representatives
  Sherwood Boehlert and Sue Kelly, both of New York State
  
  
• Our 2001 surge in membership (a doubling over the previous year), which generated enough revenue to allow us to open our first office outside my home and hire our first staff. Two of them are still with us, and still doing great work: Executive Assistant Ruth Fish and Policy Director Jim DiPeso (who had spent the previous five years doing much the same work as a volunteer member of our board).
  
  
  Policy Director Jim DiPeso
  
  
  Executive Assistant Ruth Fish
  
  
• Our 2001 “Republicans for a Responsible Energy Plan” media event at the Willard Hotel in D.C., which brought Theodore Roosevelt IV, Susan Eisenhower, Russell Train, Larry Rockefeller, and Congressman Sherwood Boehlert together with two dozen elected officials who were also REP members.
  

• Our 2003 thank-you reception in Lake Forest, Illinois, for Congressman Mark Kirk, which was a model for similar events we plan to host in the future;
  
  
  Congressman Mark Kirk speaks to the crowd
  at our 2003 thank-you reception for him in Lake Forest, Illinois
  
  
  Congressman Mark Kirk and Illinois REP Chapter
  President Dave Herrington
  

• Our 2003 annual conference, which was especially memorable as singer/songwriter Carole King graced an evening reception under the stars for Congressman Boehlert, who added his own star power when he addressed our dinner guests the next evening.
  
  
  REP America co-founder and Vice President Aurie Kryzuda
  with singer/songwriter Carole King at our 2003 reception for
  Congressman Boehlert in San Diego
  
  
  Congresman Sherwood Boehlert delivers the dinner speech
  at our 2003 annual conference in San Diego
  

• Our 2004 annual conference, which featured speeches by former EPA administrator Russell Train, one of the towering figures of Republican environmentalism, and retiring Pennsylvania Congressman Jim Greenwood.
  
  
  Former EPA Administrator Russell Train gives
  the keynote speech at our 2004 annual conference in Philadelphia
  
  
  Congressman Jim Greenwood addresses
  our dinner guests in Philadelphia
  
  

If I had to pick the single best moment of these last ten years, I’d point to early February of 2000, when four REP leaders met at the Phoenix airport with Senator John McCain, whom REP PAC had endorsed for president. We were now having our first meeting with him.



The senator was on his way home for a few days of R&R after his win in the New Hamphire primary. The air was electric as he, his wife Cindy and a couple of aides came into the little room where we were waiting for him. “What do I tell ‘em about global warming?” was the first thing out of McCain’s mouth as he shook hands all around. “Everywhere I go, people are asking me about global warming. I need a good Republican answer! Can you help me?” I looked at my colleagues, swallowed hard, and said, “Senator, we’ll get you a white paper on that subject right away.”

And, I’m proud to say... we did.


Shown at our February 2000 meeting at the Phoenix airport are: Aurie Kryzuda, Martha Marks, Senator John McCain, Kathy Roediger, and Jim Scarantino.

Thanks to Jim DiPeso’s expertise on the subject (he was still an unpaid volunteer back then), we had a fully fleshed-out position paper on global warming in the senator’s hands within a week. (NOTE: REP's Global Climate Change paper has been posted in the Policy Papers section of our web site ever since Jim DiPeso prepared it for McCain in 2000.)


REP members campaign for Senator John McCain at a rally in San Diego.

From that point on, we watched with pride as McCain began stepping out in front on this issue, addressing it with increasing confidence during the rest of his campaign, then holding Senate hearings on the subject and, more recently, pushing hard for passage of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act.

I’ve had several other opportunities to participate in events with Senator McCain — including a New York City press conference and a ride on his “Straight Talk Express” bus to an immense, emotion-filled Wall Street rally the week before Super Tuesday, and a reception in Boston that REP hosted in his honor three months after the primaries were over — but nothing stands out so well in my mind as that wonderfully personal half-hour meeting with him at the Phoenix airport. It was a time to treasure with the most engaging politician I have ever had the honor of meeting in my life.


Senator McCain and Martha Marks share a ride on the
Straight Talk Express in New York City the Friday before
"Super Tuesday" in April 2000.

Hire our first REP staff in Washington D.C.
Launch our first large-scale membership-development campaign, to grow REP's membership base many times beyond its current level.
Hire a political director to help REP PAC become a force in primaries.

hire Government Affairs Director David Jenkins;
make our web site much more appealing to visitors and (with our new REP Action Center) more useful to members who want to be activists;
develop a new publication, the C.E.P. Quarterly (the acronym stands for Conservative Environmental Policy), aimed specifically at agency and legislative staff in Washington and the states; and
begin planning our first large-scale membership campaign.

Next on our to-do list is finding the resources to hire staff to professionalize REP PAC’s work in 2006 and 2008 and beyond. There will be big Congressional races next year; REP PAC should be a major player. And imagine how wonderful it would be if we could help a “green” Republican win the ‘08 presidential nomination!

Up to now, we’ve relied on volunteers to run our political endeavors. REP PAC Chairman Jim Stuhltrager has done wonders since taking on that task in 2002, but it’s just a part-time volunteer role for him. If our movement is to become a significant force within the Republican Party, we must greatly increase REP PAC’s resources, start hiring experienced political professionals, and show that we’re fully prepared to help pro-conservation Republicans win—and retain—elective office.

The fate of our environment has never rested more squarely on the shoulders of this organization, so we must be aggressive in our efforts to grow large enough to transform our party. An integral part of our strategy is to reach the millions of rank and file Republicans who say they care about the environment, because a large and engaged grassroots base is essential to our success.

Like the rest of the environmental community, REP is playing this year with the hand we’ve been dealt. As I write this, we’re ramping up our efforts in a down-to-the-wire struggle to protect one of America’s last great wilderness areas. We’re doing our best to coax the Congress into making meaningful improvements in energy efficiency and air and water quality. We’re using every tactic at our disposal to ensure passage of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act... and begin waging war on global climate change.

We are also seeking ways to work together, when it makes sense, with other GOP constituencies that should be REP’s natural allies. I’m referring to the hunting and fishing groups that share our desire to protect wildlife habitat, wilderness areas, and clean air and water; to western ranchers who make their living and take inspiration from the natural landscape; and to the evangelical organizations that have begun to speak out on creation care and global warming.

REP will never take a distracting position on gun ownership issues, and it will never give up its secular character. However, we do have many “issues of concern” in common with those communities. Our own efforts can only improve by working with them where our concerns overlap.


So, this is where REP is headed in the near future. I’m grateful to all of you—members, staff, chapter leaders, donors—who have had faith in us for so many years, and also to those who are newcomers to our movement. This is your organization. It has no meaning—and no chance of succeeding—without you.

I encourage each and every REP member to try to find time to get involved. We need you, and we welcome your participation as we continue building our national grassroots movement of Republicans for Environmental Protection.

---

The members of REP America's Board of Directors as of April 2005 are...


President Martha Marks
(New Mexico)


Vice President Jim Stuhltrager
(Pennsylvania)


Roy Gerdel (Missouri) and
Tweeti Blancett (New Mexico)


Carol Calabresa
(Illinois)


Josh First
(Pennsylvania)


Bill McLaughlin
(California)


Barbara Struthers, Ph.D.
(Illinois)


Robin Tyner
(Virginia)