N.J. eco-group backs Obama, gives lawmakers high marks

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N.J. eco-group backs Obama, gives lawmakers high marks
2 senators, 8 congressmen get perfect scores
Thursday, August 21, 2008
BY SUSAN K. LIVIO
Star-Ledger Staff

A state environmental advocacy group yesterday announced its endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president and gave New Jersey's two U.S. senators and eight of its 13 congressmen perfect scores for their environmental records.

Environment New Jersey based its report card on 10 votes between January 2007 and February 2008 that involved combating global warming, promoting clean energy, protecting air and water, and opposing offshore drilling, Executive Director Dena Mottola Jaborska said at a Statehouse news conference.

Voting environmentally friendly 100 percent of the time were U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, both Democrats, and Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.), Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), Robert Andrews (D-1st Dist.), Frank Pallone (D-6th Dist.), Bill Pascrell (D-8th Dist.), Steve Rothman (D-9th Dist.), Rush Holt (D-12th Dist.) and Albio Sires (D-13th Dist.).

"Being green in the Garden State is a bipartisan issue and we applaud our delegation's environmental heroes, especially the leadership from Sen. Menendez and Sen. Lautenberg," Mottola Jaborska said.

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.) scored the lowest with 8 percent; Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.) scored second-lowest with 54 percent, according to the advocacy group. Running in the middle of the pack were Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-7th Dist.) with 77 percent; and Rep. Jim Saxton (R- 3rd Dist.) and Rep. Donald Payne (D-10th Dist.), both scoring 69 percent.

Erica Elliott, Garrett's spokeswoman, called the congressman's poor marks "an unfair representation," and issued a list of his environmentally-oriented advocacy. It includes his introduction of a bill to expand the National Wallkill Wildlife Refuge in Sussex, and his support of getting a toxic waste site in Ringwood re-listed on the Superfund National Priorities List.

Some of the key votes examined involved protecting funding for global warming research in May 2007, cutting subsidies to big oil in February 2008, and two votes against offshore drilling last year, according to the report card.

Environment New Jersey has not decided who it will endorse in the upcoming congressional elections, Mottola Jaborska said.

The group coordinated its Obama endorsement with Environment America and 25 other state environmental groups because "he has made environmental issues top and center of his campaign," she said. Obama, as an Illinois senator, has received a lifetime rating of 86 percent compared with the 38 percent grade for Republican challenger U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).