Environmental Scorecard Identifies Greenest Republicans in Congress
Three Members Share Top Honors
May 28, 2008
Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) today released its third annual Congressional Scorecard rating the environmental performance of Republicans in Congress.
Senator Susan Collins (ME), Congressman Dave Reichert (WA), and Congressman Chris Shays (CT) all received the title "Greenest Republican in Congress" because they each had perfect voting records and received additional credit for environmental leadership. As a result of the formula that REP uses to calculate scores, which is based on the number of votes scored, Collins' score of 104* was slightly higher than the 103 received by Reichert and Shays.
Four other Republican lawmakers had perfect scores of 100: Michael Castle (DE), Michael Ferguson (NJ), Mark Kirk (IL) and Christopher Smith (NJ). Congressman Frank Wolf (VA) was most improved in the House, jumping from 42 in 2006 to 93 in 2007. Senator Arlen Specter (PA) was most improved in the Senate, moving up from 0 in 2006 to 64 in 2007.
The scorecard is available online as a downloadable PDF.
"We are very proud of the environmental leadership that we are seeing from our top-scoring lawmakers. They are playing a crucial role in safeguarding our environment and building the bipartisan support necessary to address our most pressing environmental challenges," said REP President Martha Marks. "Keeping these GOP environmental champions in office should be a priority for anyone who cares about responsible stewardship of our environment."
The overall environmental performance of Republicans in Congress showed mixed results. The average score of Senate Republicans improved from 13 percent in both 2005 and 2006, to 27 percent in 2007, while the House Republican average fell from 30 percent in 2006 to 21 percent in 2007. The House decline, in large part, reflected the electoral loss in 2006 of eight of the 109th Congress' top-scoring, pro-conservation Republicans.
"At a time when our party leaders are re-assessing the GOP brand, they should follow the lead of those who did well on this scorecard and recognize that good stewardship and conservation are core conservative values, which are shared by the vast majority of Americans," said REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins.
"We have a strong core group of Republican lawmakers who are following in the footsteps of great GOP conservation leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, former Senator William Roth, and former Congressman John Saylor," said REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso.
Still, far too many Republicans had low scores. The lowest scoring member in the House was Joe Barton (TX), who scored minus 7. In the Senate, the low achiever was James Inhofe (OK), who scored minus 4.
"We hope that low scoring lawmakers will reflect on their records and realize that there is nothing conservative about waste and pollution," said Jenkins.
"Our scorecard is an essential tool for tracking our party's environmental performance and a measure of REP's progress toward its mission of restoring natural resource conservation and sound environmental protection as fundamental elements of the Republican Party's vision for America," said DiPeso.
* The REP Congressional Scorecard rates GOP lawmakers on a scale of 0 to 100. However, scores can fall below zero or exceed 100 based on credits or demerits received for significant non-voting actions demonstrating either positive or negative leadership on environmental issues.
