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On the Lege
How Green was My Legislator?
Richard Whittaker
Wed Sep 26, 10:59am
, 2007
Sen. Watson: If he were any greener, we'd need to color-correct this picture.
The Texas League of Conservation Voters has issued its analysis of how green each state legislator's voting record was last session. The scorecard, based on 27 key ecological bills and amendments, was issued yesterday and had some good news for the Austin caucus as a whole, but with some significant offenders.
Sen. Kirk Watson and reps. Elliott Naishtat, Donna Howard and Eddie Rodriguez all got 100%, A++ ratings: but then, how did the Austin bunch come in with a caucus average of 85% green? It's still better than the House average of 57%, but with Republican Mike Krusee bringing up the rear with an negligible 35%, that score become a bit easier to understand. The TLCV condemned him, as well as Democrat Robby Cook and GOPer Dan Gattis, for opposing an amendment to House Bill 3732 that would have tied coal-plant incentives to emissions cuts.
But the biggest state-wide offender? Speaker Tom Craddick: less for his actions, more for his appointment of Dennis "The Menace" Bonnen, R-Angleton (28%), as chair of the Environmental Regulations Committee. Bonnen, whose *ahem* "robust" management style has been seen as putting industry first, managed to kill off dozens of green and regulation-strengthening bills, including several that had passed happily through Senate. As the TLCV puts it, "Ladies and gentlemen, the fox is eating the hens."
The entire scorecard can be downloaded as a pdf.
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