Declaring U.S. Rep. Linda Smith is no friend to the environment, aconservation group Wednesday put her on its "Dirty Dozen" list ofcandidates and pledged to oppose her campaign for the Senate.
The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund has earmarked atotal of $2 million for 12 House and Senate campaigns around thecountry, including the Washington race, said league president DebCallahan.
A spokesman for Smith, R-Hazel Dell, criticized the action, notingthat her score in the group's ranking is better than mostRepublicans' scores. He said Smith balances environmental concernswith property rights and economic priorities.
But Callahan, in a statement at a Washington, D.C., newsconference, said Smith "consistently votes against public health andsafety protections and conservation of our natural resources.
"Washington faces some real environmental challenges in the yearsahead on issues like clean water, clean air and urban sprawl,"Callahan said. "Yet Linda Smith has voted against the environment 81percent of the time."
The 81 percent figure is Smith's average anti-League ofConservation Voters score over her three full years in the U.S.House. Conversely, she has voted with the league an average of 18 to19 percent for the same three years. Her scores have "improved," inthe League of Conservation Voters' perspective, from 0 in 1995 to 23percent in 1996 to 31 percent in 1997.
The scores are based on the league's survey of roll-call votes onenvironmental bills it selects.
Although the League of Conservation Voters names its "Dirty Dozen"members of Congress to target in the fall campaign, they aren'tnecessarily the 12 with the lowest scores in the survey.
Smith, in fact, scored higher than 47 of the 100 members of theRepublican-controlled Senate and higher than numerous members of the435-member House of Representatives.
The league picks its "Dirty Dozen" based on scores and itspotential for affecting the election in key races.
The league has been around since 1970 and has 25,000 membersacross the country. Its purpose is to "hold members of Congressaccountable for their environmental votes and to inform the publicabout those votes," said spokeswoman Lisa Wade.
Its political action committee, the League of Conservation Votersaction fund, has named a "Dirty Dozen" only in the 1996 congressionalelections and this year.
The 1998 listing has two Democrats and nine Republicans. It willname one more lawmaker to the list in coming days, Wade said.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Shoreline, whom Smith is opposingthis fall, has been a high scorer in the environmental survey, with86 percent in 1997, 85 percent in 1996 and 100 percent in 1995.
Jim Troyer of the Smith campaign headquarters in Bellevueresponded Wednesday that Smith "is sensitive to environmental values,but you have to balance that with property rights and protecting jobsfor those working in forests, etc."
The "Dirty Dozen" listing, he said, "highlights the partisannature of this. It's all about keeping another Democrat in office.Patty Murray was off to the left as far as balance. She iscompletely hostile to property rights and protecting jobs in resourceindustries."
The League of Conservation Voters on Monday detailed some specificvotes Smith has taken, including a 1995 vote it said was "to gut theClean Water Act's public health provisions."
Specifically, the league said, the vote was to "slash theEnvironmental Protection Agency's ability to control the dumping ofsewage and industrial pollution into Puget Sound and otherwaterways."
Smith spokeswoman Susan Farmer said that "is not only silly, it isfalse. This bill was an attempt to switch from a 'do this or else'philosophy toward one of, 'This is what needs to be done to protectnatural resources, now how can we help you accomplish it?'"
Web Site: The League of Conservation Voters' Internet Web page isat www.lcv.org. The Washington, D.C., phone number is (202) 785-8683.
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