THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 14, 1995 TAG: 9509140392
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: CAMPAIGN NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Three conservation groups warned voters Wednesday to be wary of General Assembly incumbents who claim to be environmentally friendly.
The groups released an ``Environmental Scorecard'' to support their contention that most lawmakers - particularly those from Southwest Virginia - have helped Gov. George F. Allen to relax state environmental safeguards.
``Too many times the same legislators who vote in Richmond to weaken environmental protections, turn around and campaign back home as environmentalists,'' said Marie Kulick, Virginia program director for Clean Water Action.
``This scorecard will help voters see past the political smoke and mirrors and see who the friends of the environment really are.''
Compiled by Clean Water Action, the Sierra Club and Virginia Citizen Action, the scorecard ranks lawmakers on six votes in the Senate and eight in the House of Delegates over the last two years.
The issues include widening Interstate 66 for Disney's America, funding state parks with proceeds from the sale of surplus state property and immunity for polluting companies that voluntarily disclose their actions.
Lawmakers from Northern Virginia scored the highest, supporting the environment, on average, more than half of the time in both chambers.
Tidewater lawmakers ranked second, averaging 32 percent in the Senate and 46 percent in the House.
Becky Norton Dunlop, natural resources secretary for Allen, said the scorecard was meaningless because the issues were so narrow.
``This document is flawed in a very fundamental way by excluding votes which the Allen administration supported,'' she said.
Marc Wetherhorn, state director of Virginia Citizen Action, a grassroots consumer and environmental group, acknowledged that the scorecard omitted a number of environmental measures that passed with broad support.
The idea, he said, was to base the ratings on the most contentious issues to provide a stark contrast between friends and foes of the environment.
Dunlop also took issue with ``F'' grade that the three environmental groups gave Allen for such things as his opposition to federal car-emission testing for Northern Virginia and budget cuts for the state Department of Environmental Regulation. MEMO: The full list of all state legislators is on the News page of Pilot
Online. See Page A2.
ILLUSTRATION: HOW THEY SCORED
How the region's members of the Virginia General Assembly were
rated by three environmental groups - Virginia Citizen Action, Clean
Water Action and the Sierra Club - on floor votes for environmental
issues. The scores, listed after each lawmaker's name, range from 0
to a top score of 100.
HOUSE OF DELEGATES
William Barlow, D-Smithfield, 50.
Vincent Behm, D-Hampton, 38.
Mary Christian, D-Hampton, 88.
Shirley Cooper, D-Yorktown, 63.
J. Paul Councill, D-Franklin, 38.
Flora Crittenden, D-Newport News, 86.
Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, 25.
Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, 50.
J. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, 0.
George Grayson, D-Williamsburg, 88.
Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, 25.
George Heilig, D-Norfolk, 50.
Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, 71.
R. McDonnell, R-Virginia Beach, 29.
Kenneth Melvin, D-Portsmouth, 100.
William Moore, D-Portsmouth, 50.
Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, 38.
Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk, 38.
Robert Nelms, R-Suffolk, 25.
Harry Purkey, R-Virginia Beach, 38.
William Robinson, D-Norfolk, 86.
Lionell Spruill, D-Chesapeake, 63.
William Tata, R-Virginia Beach, 38.
Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, 0.
Leo Wardrup, R-Virginia Beach, 13.
SENATE
Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, 33.
Mark Earley, R-Chesapeake, 17.
Clarence Holland, D-Virginia Beach, 0.
Richard Holland, D-Windsor, 0.
L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, 50.
W. Henry Maxwell, D-Newport News, 80.
Yvonne Miller, D-Norfolk, 83.
Thomas Norment, R-Williamsburg, 0.
Frederick Quayle, R-Chesapeake, 0.
Kenneth Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, 0.
Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk, 33.
by CNB