Editor’s note: The Citizen recently received this announcement of the state Sierra Club’s choices in local elections.
The North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club today officially announced its endorsements in Senate District 23, House Districts 54 & 56, and for the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
We are very pleased to announce today that the Sierra Club officially endorses Representative Verla Insko, Representative Joe Hackney, and Senator Ellie Kinnaird in their bids for reelection. We are confident that they will continue to work to protect North Carolina’s environment, for our families and for our future. Though neither Insko nor Hackney are opposed for reelection, we wish to strongly support the work that they have done over the past several years, and look forward to their continued service. Senator Kinnaird, who faces both a primary and general election challenger, has one of the best environmental voting records in the entire state Legislature and has initiated several important pieces of environmental legislation.
In the Orange County Commissioners at-large district, the Sierra Club strongly endorses Bernadette Pelissier. Bernadette has been an outstanding environmental leader in Orange County. She has proven herself knowledgeable and a creative problem solver in her many roles in our community including her service on the Planning Board, the Commission for the Environment, the OWASA Board of Directors, the Special Transit Advisory Commission, and in her decades of work for the Sierra Club. Her broad experience will allow her to be a strong voice for regional transit, farm and open space preservation, responsible economic development, and planning for an intelligent response to growth pressures.
In District 1, though they do not face primary or general election opposition, the Sierra Club is pleased to endorse Valerie Foushee and Pam Hemminger. Incumbent Valerie Foushee has demonstrated a strong understanding of the many issues surrounding growth and has been an advocate for the creation of new parks and preservation through conservation easements. We feel that she has had a very strong voting record over the past four years. Pam Hemminger, current chair of the Chapel Hill Carrboro Board of Education, has a long record of service on environmental issues through her work on numerous boards and commissions. When elected, she will be an advocate for improved public transit, a better infrastructure for alternative transportation, energy conservation, improved stream buffers, and a promoter of smart growth initiatives.
The Sierra Club chose not to endorse any candidates running in District 2. While we find none of the candidates’ positions on environmental issues strong enough to warrant an endorsement, we do support Leo Allison’s positions on transit, open space and farmland preservation, and the creation of more parks.
We strongly encourage Sierra Club members and other residents of Orange County who care about the environment to support candidates who have shown leadership on these issues in the May 6th election. In light of numerous environmental challenges we will be facing in the years to come, electing candidates to the General Assembly and Board of County Commissioners who will make the environment a top priority is essential.
What a surprise! Eco posers back other eco posers. Neloa Jones is the only one running who has actually done anything for the Orange County environment, unless you consider attending meetings and being a member of a group “doing something”.
More of the same. Yawn.