League of Conservation Voters endorses Merkley for Senate

Both the National League of Conservation Voters and the Oregon League of Conservation Voters came out in support of U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) on Thursday.

“Jeff Merkley’s proven leadership on global warming and clean energy will help to break the Senate stalemate in Washington,” LCV President Gene Karpinski said. “Speaker Merkley’s plan to deal with global warming will simultaneously end America’s addiction to oil, protect the planet for future generations and bring clean energy jobs to Oregon.”

The league also criticized U.S. Sen.Gordon Smith’s environmental record as being too inconsistent. Earlier this year the LCV rated Smith (R-Pendleton) as voting in favor of the environment 73 percent of the time, but that was in stark contrast to his lifetime rating of 32 percent.

Merkley spokesman Matt Canter chalked it up to election year flip-flopping.

“This is such an example of what Gordon Smith does,” Canter said. “He has this disastrous record against the environment, and during an election year he shoots up to 73 percent.”

But Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride believes that Smith's commitment to the environment is strong, and even without the LCV backing, Oregon voters will recognize his work.

"Gordon Smith's record on conservation is evident to Oregonians through his work to protect Oregon's special and unique places - from Steens Mountain to Mt. Hood," Smith campaign spokeswoman Lindsay Gilbride said.

Despite those accomplishments, the LCV said they would back the candidate that they believe will always support the environment.

"With the exception of Congressman Walden, Gordon Smith has the lowest environmental score of any member of the Oregon delegation," Karpinski said. “In 2005, Smith voted to kill a resolution that put the Senate on record saying that global warming is real and that mandatory limits are necessary to slow, stop, and reverse the growth of global warming pollution.”