For your information, I am Rex Bavousett, Chair of the Iowa City Area Group of the Sierra Club. For the record, my group voted not to endorse our U.S. Congressman James Leach of the 1st District of Iowa. Speaking on behalf of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, Debbie Neustadt our Political Chair, has announced that we, the Iowa Chapter ExCom, have once again endorsed U.S. Congressmen James Leach of the 1st district of Iowa. This meets with the assumed approval of the National Sierra Club Board of Directors, and with the MidWest Regional Office in Madison. Let it be known that this endorsement does not come at a cheap price for such a narrowly won endorsement. It has caused a somewhat emotional debate over the apparent double standards of how endorsements are to be determined. It affects how a Group ExCom feels its voice is heard. The way it stands,....if a Democrat has an environmental voting record of 56 from the League of Conservation Voters we would not endorse the Democrat. However if a Republican has a voting record of 56 from the League of Conservation Voters we Sierran's can't wait to get the guy endorsed. This is where we currently stand with Leach. Yes, Leach is a nice guy! Yes, he has helped the environment in the past and he will help it in the future! His LCV record has been higher in years past. However since his record has slipped in the last two years many of us here in Iowa feel that we should not over praise him with our whole hearted endorsement. Let me remind you that by not endorsing a candidate, the action in itself, does not imply that we are opposed to the candidate. Many of us here in Iowa feel that Leach needs to listen better to our environmental voice if he wishes to retain our praise and endorsement. Congressman Leach represents the majority of the Iowa City Area Group members. Approximately 650 members. Our Group ExCom chose not endorse Leach primarily because of his poor LCV record. After several Chapter ExCom members submitted their votes to the Chapter Political Committee, our ExCom listserve began to have emails pushing for us to endorse. Carl Zichella sent one of these emails. He wanted to add his two points: 1) a plead for us to endorse Leach 2) he set our Political Committee straight that we needed a 2/3 majority vote to endorse and not just a majority as the committee was initially tallying. Thank you Carl for this input. I am open to discussion, however I feel that when it comes to deciding who to endorse at the Group or Chapter level, we must decided this on our own. The Group does not need the Chapter breathing down our backs, and the Chapter does not need the Regional or National Office pushing on them. If the higher-ups want this to be democratic, then let us decide on our own. Otherwise it is a Big Brother Totalitarian organization. Out of 14 votes by our Chapter ExCom, 9 were cast for the Endorsement of Leach. As stated by Carl, a 2/3 majority requires 9.33 votes out of 14 to pass. Again we had only 9 and the Political Committee rounded the required to 9. However, according to Robert's Rules and if we follow how our State Government operates, we should have rounded up. This would then require 10 votes to endorse Leach....and 10 votes he did not have! Thus we should not have endorsed U.S. Congressman James Leach of the 1st District of Iowa. Examples, from Robert's Rules: 1. If the total vote count is 30, a 2/3 vote is 20 votes. 2. If the total vote count is 31, a 2/3 vote is 21 votes. (2/3 of 31 is 20.67.) 3. If the total vote count is 32, a 2/3 vote is 22 votes. (2/3 of 32 is 21.33.) Therefore, In my opinion, we did not vote by a 2/3 vote to endorse Rep. Jim Leach in his Congressional race, and I am not the only one on the Chapter ExCom that feels this way! -- Rex Bavousett Sierra Club Iowa City Area Group Chair Iowa Chapter Webmaster 45 Juniper Ct. North Liberty, IA 52317 [log in to unmask] 319-626-7862 home 319-384-0053 work 319-384-0055 fax http://www.iowa.sierraclub.org/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]