Sierra Club fighting Pombo

I am not a member of the Sierra Club, but I received the following tonight, forwarded from a member and it is about Pombo, so here is a copy. The author is:

Carl Zichella, Regional Staff Director, Sierra Club

Dear Club Member:

The Club has encouraged its members to help with the McCloskey for Congress campaign.

Pete's name may be familiar to some of you. For those of you who don't know him, he was elected to the House of Representatives in a special election in 1967 and was re-elected seven times representing the San Francisco Peninsula area. He became known as the conscience of his party, opposing President Nixon on the Vietnam War, championing environmental legislation and co-chairing the first Earth Day in 1979 with the late Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. Pete was an original author of the first Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1973, and has spent decades helping landowners (including many in your congressional district) comply with the law through his private practice as a highly respected attorney. He has served his country both in times of war and peace. As a U.S. Marine Pete received two Purple Hearts and the nation's second highest military honor, the Navy Cross for valor. Since 1994 Pete has watched with growing alarm as the GOP abandoned its conservation heritage and slid onto ethically questionable ground. The recent corruption scandals regarding the conduct of Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, John Doolittle and Richard Pombo convinced Pete that both his party and his country were in trouble and with his experience he could contribute to getting them both back on the right track.

In contrast, his opponent, Richard Pombo, has made a career of political partisanship, questionable ethics, and adamant opposition to environmental protection. He arrived in Congress in 1992 with his top priority being to kill the ESA. He told a Senate Committee that his family was constrained in developing their property because of protections for the San Joaquin kit fox, which was flatly false. He has been responsible for efforts to sell off National Parks such as the Eugene O'Neill Historic site, and has publicly advocated selling off federal public lands in California. He has proposed legislation that undermines coastal protections, making it easier to place oil and gas rigs off our coasts by unraveling the bipartisan 30 year-old drilling moratorium. If that weren't enough, Pombo was also named one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress by the non-partisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Congress.

A new short film (around three minutes) about Pete's career has recently been produced. It is narrated by Paul Newman. Please watch the film to learn more about Pete and why we support him. You will need Quick Time to view the film, but you can obtain it for free from the iTunes website.

Thank you for your consideration. If you would like to help with the campaign, please reply to me and I will plug you in. It's time we retire Richard Pombo -- remember, California's primary is June 6!

Pombo must just love it. All of those far out, radical fringe, environmental extremists are joining in. I remember when Carl Pope said on his blog that he though Pombo had mellowed. As Babaloo posted today, not much.

Tags: CA-11, Richard Pombo, Pete McCloskey