Jolt
Morning Jolt: Another Win for Reichert
The League of Conservation Voters, a national environmental group, endorsed U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA, 8 ) today.
Reichert, as we reported last year, supported the house cap and trade legislation. LCV cites that vote in its endorsement.
Two fact checks on this, and one that makes the LCV endorsement a bit of a surprise.
First, earlier this year , Reichert was caught on tape by Democratic blogger David Goldstein at HA Seattle, giving a little context to his pro-green voting record. On the audio of a closed door meeting with Republican supporters Reichert cynically dismissed his environmental voting record as a ploy to neutralize environmental advocacy groups come election time.
The admission outraged the Seattle Times , which had been a longtime Reichert supporter. They even endorsed his no-name Republican challenger during this year's primary over incumbent Reichert. (They also endorsed the Democratic challenger, Suzan DelBene, in the primary.)
Apparently, LCV wasn't too offended by Reichert's statement and, in fact, is happy to play along.
Second, it's not at all clear how "crucial" Reichert's vote was in 2009. The vote was 219-212, certainly close, but according to U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA, 1)—a lead advocate on the bill—Reichert didn't sign on until it was a done deal.
We have called Reichert's office several times to ask him about Inslee's memory on this, but have never gotten a return call.
LCV also endorsed U.S. Sen. Patty Murray today. This is not surprising given Republican opponent Dino Rossi's environmental record in the state senate, where he voted with the Washington Conservation Voters a limp 13, 36, and 58 percent of the time respectively in the '97-98, '99-00, and '01-'02 bienniums.
Reichert, as we reported last year, supported the house cap and trade legislation. LCV cites that vote in its endorsement.
Rep. Reichert has a solid LCV lifetime environmental score of 62 percent and received a commendable 79 percent LCV score for his voting record in the 110th Congress.* In 2009, Rep. Reichert’s support was crucial to the House passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
Two fact checks on this, and one that makes the LCV endorsement a bit of a surprise.
First, earlier this year , Reichert was caught on tape by Democratic blogger David Goldstein at HA Seattle, giving a little context to his pro-green voting record. On the audio of a closed door meeting with Republican supporters Reichert cynically dismissed his environmental voting record as a ploy to neutralize environmental advocacy groups come election time.
The admission outraged the Seattle Times , which had been a longtime Reichert supporter. They even endorsed his no-name Republican challenger during this year's primary over incumbent Reichert. (They also endorsed the Democratic challenger, Suzan DelBene, in the primary.)
Apparently, LCV wasn't too offended by Reichert's statement and, in fact, is happy to play along.
Second, it's not at all clear how "crucial" Reichert's vote was in 2009. The vote was 219-212, certainly close, but according to U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA, 1)—a lead advocate on the bill—Reichert didn't sign on until it was a done deal.
We have called Reichert's office several times to ask him about Inslee's memory on this, but have never gotten a return call.
LCV also endorsed U.S. Sen. Patty Murray today. This is not surprising given Republican opponent Dino Rossi's environmental record in the state senate, where he voted with the Washington Conservation Voters a limp 13, 36, and 58 percent of the time respectively in the '97-98, '99-00, and '01-'02 bienniums.
