Greenies Call Foul on Strickland

Three prominent environmental activists took aim at the voting record of State Senate contender Tony Strickland when he served in the State Assembly. They were contesting television commercials depicting Strickland as an alternative energy entrepreneur. Vera Benson with the League of Conservation Voters, Fran Farina with the Sierra Club, and Susan Jordan with Vote Smart charged Strickland’s environmental voting record was consistently among the worst in the Assembly during his six years in office. The event was organized by Strickland’s Democratic opponent, Hannah-Beth Jackson. According to Strickland’s critics, his most egregious vote was to oppose a bill requiring public utilities to provide up to 20 percent of their energy via alternative energy sources. Jackson, who served in the Assembly at the same time as Strickland, cosponsored the bill, which was passed into law in 2002. Strickland’s campaign spokesperson Matt Guthrie dismissed Strickland’s environmental critics as a partisan hit team, charging that Strickland’s detractors also opposed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom Guthrie described as “one of the greenest, most environmentally friendly governors California has ever seen.”