Sierra Club Endorses Kroger
Attorney General candidate John Kroger picked up a notable endorsement yesterday from the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club.
From the Oregonian:
The Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club announced Tuesday that it is endorsing John Kroger for Attorney General.Kroger and Rep. Greg Macpherson, D-Lake Oswego, are seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general.
The environmental group chose Kroger because "he has made aggressively protecting Oregon's
environment a key component of his campaign, according to Bill Parker of the Sierra Club.Kroger and Macpherson have been dueling over endorsements since Attorney General Hardy Myers in August announced that he would not seek a fourth term.
Kroger won the support of a majority of the Portland City Council, while Macpherson leads in ex Democratic governors, 2-1.
Macpherson also picked up the endorsements of State Treasurer Randall Edwards, Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo and Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.
Kroger's campaign announced the endorsement on his website, JohnKroger.com:
Oregon has built a reputation as an environmentally friendly state, but chronic violations of our most important environmental laws have damaged some of Oregon’s most important places. In the October 3rd edition of Business Week, Portland was cited as the third most contaminated city in the country. According to the article, Portland has 62,466 contaminated toxic sites, one for every 34 people in the city.The Kroger campaign says these sites are often caused by polluters breaking clean water and clean air laws. “We can cut down on these contaminated sites if we aggressively and fully enforce the environmental laws we have,” said Kroger.
The Sierra Club’s endorsement of Kroger is the first of this election cycle, and speaks to the emphasis John’s campaign has given environmental issues. The decision to endorse John Kroger over Greg Macpherson was a difficult one. Greg has been a long-time and true advocate for Oregon’s environment as evidenced by his leadership on Measure 49. However, as Oregon’s Attorney General, we believe John will be a stronger and more aggressive champion for our environment.
Discuss.
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Dec. 19, 2007
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Dec 19, '07
I definitely think that Kroger has better credentials to be AG. While Macpherson has his legislative experience, which I'm no fan of, his legal practice is in private company pension law. That's not a strong legal base upon which to become AG. Kroger's legal experience is of the sort I would want as AG and so I will strongly support him in the primary and, hopefully, in the General Election. I'm glad the Sierra Club endorsed him. I hope the Portland City Council's aggregate endorsement isn't the kiss of death for him.
Dec 19, '07
Not to mention your single-minded obsession/hatred over PERS reform, mrfearless. Let's not leave that out!
10:29 a.m.
Dec 19, '07
I wondered how Mr. Kroger found my mobile phone number to call for support. I volunteer with local chapter of Sierra Club, and they have my mobile number. Lesson learned.
Dec 19, '07
This is interesting news, but I still think I will wait until next year before deciding how to vote.
Dec 19, '07
This seems like a big deal. The Willamette Week’s write up points out that this endorsement actually required the Sierra Club to really evaluate the candidates, since its not like Macpherson spent his time in Salem dumping oil in a river at his spotted owl BBQ. It says something that post-49, Kroger still picked up the endorsement.
Dec 19, '07
What has Kroger actually done for the environment again?
12:37 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
Can someone please explain what is up with all the "comment spam" notices? Really. Make it a topic thread up at top from our fearless leaders.
If there are certain tics of writing that might set this off -- scare quotes, other punctuation, certain types of sentence structure -- that could be avoided, tell us, please.
12:39 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
Oops, meant to put that on the sales tax thread.
Dec 19, '07
Good point Chris. At least as ugly as the AG threads get, they are ugly on topic.
1:04 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
Answer for Question: He was the first of these two fine candidates to push the idea that the AG spot could be used to help the environment.
As top enforcer of State laws, the A.G. is responsible for enforcing Oregon's Environmental laws as well. Something that, with all due respect to Hardy Meyers, has been nearly entirely absent from the position.
And while Rep. Macpherson is a good man, for those of us following the campaign over the long haul, it's obvious that he's been cribbing from the ideas put forth by Mr. Kroger, including this one.
2:18 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
John Kroger makes the point that at least one of the Willamette River polluters has been cited dozens? of times but the DEQ fines cost less than the savings they get by dumping in the river so they keep on dumping. The AG office should be suing them and making the cost of dumping prohibitively expensive. This seems a no brainer, but it hasn't been done to-date and no one else, including all the legislators, was making a stink !!! about it. That is one reason the Sierra Club likes his attitude.
Dec 19, '07
It's hard to understand how Kroger's "big idea" compares to Macpherson's actual leadership on environmental issues (most recently, being the state's leading champion on Measure 49).
Talk is cheap.
Dec 19, '07
Kroger has made active enforcement of Oregon's laws a central part of his campaign. DEQ has been very lax, although budget constraints have made the agency's work difficult. Kroger has experience prosecuting scofflaw corporations, and he is independent of Oregon's political establishment. Given the power of corporate money in politics, he would be relatively unencumbered by the status quo.
Perhaps Kroger would do for Oregon in the areas of consumer and environmental protection would Eliot Spitzer did with financial crime enforcement in New York.
Dec 19, '07
Mr. Question: Taking a stand on environmental issues goes much farther than Measure 49 and land use law. 49 has no impact on the hundreds of environmental issues that may be less sexy but very important such as dredging, mixing zones, temperature standards, etc. They're all things that are key to protecting the environment and we need somebody who will take on the industry and enforce these rules.
Kroger's independent of the system and he's a Marine, so I know he'll get things done.
Dec 19, '07
Mr. Question: Taking a stand on environmental issues goes much farther than Measure 49 and land use law. 49 has no impact on the hundreds of environmental issues that may be less sexy but very important such as dredging, mixing zones, temperature standards, etc. They're all things that are key to protecting the environment and we need somebody who will take on the industry and enforce these rules.
Kroger's independent of the system and he's a Marine, so I know he'll get things done.
Dec 19, '07
Mr. Question: Taking a stand on environmental issues goes much farther than Measure 49 and land use law. 49 has no impact on the hundreds of environmental issues that may be less exciting to the general public but still very important such as dredging, mixing zones, temperature standards, etc. They're all things that are key to protecting the environment and we need somebody who will take on the industry and enforce these rules.
Kroger's independent of the system and he's a Marine, so I know he'll get things done.
Dec 19, '07
“Question,” is it Kroger or the Sierra Club that you want answers from? While endorsements will sometimes be given for services rendered, that is not the situation with the Sierra Club and Kroger. The fact of the matter is that votes (and many endorsements) are based upon the prediction of future action. The significance of the Sierra Club’s endorsement is that despite Macpherson’s record in the legislature, the Sierra Club still thought Kroger would be the better Attorney General.
An interesting thing about this race is the strong philosophical divergence between the candidates and the endorsement may reflect this divide. Macpherson and Kroger have very different ideas about what the Attorney General is and what the office should do. Macpherson sees the office as the state’s corporate counsel, while Kroger emphasizes the job of enforcing the laws (not surprisingly, this may also reflect their respective careers as a pension attorney and criminal prosecutor). To have candidates have such a divergence of opinion about the nature of the office is rare, particularly during a primary campaign. The Sierra Club’s endorsement seems to be built upon the belief that Kroger’s approach to the office is a more effective way to protect the environment.
Dec 19, '07
This endorsement is such a crock! Kroger has done absolutely nothing for the environment and those on the board of the Sierra Club know it. Greg Macpherson is the ONLY statewide candidate who has stuck his neck out on enviro issues and this is how the Sierra Club returns the favor. Nice work.
Dec 19, '07
Taking a stand on environmental issues goes much farther than Measure 49 and land use law. 49 has no impact on the hundreds of environmental issues that may be less sexy but very important such as dredging, mixing zones, temperature standards, etc. They're all things that are key to protecting the environment and we need somebody who will take on the industry and enforce these rules.
Kroger's independent of the system and he's a Marine, so I know he'll get things done.
Dec 19, '07
Taking a stand on environmental issues goes much farther than Measure 49 and land use law. 49 has no impact on the many environmental issues that may be less sexy but very important such as dredging, mixing zones, temperature standards, etc. They're all things that are key to protecting the environment and we need somebody who will take on the industry and enforce these rules.
Kroger's independent of the system and he's a Marine, so I know he'll get things done.
4:29 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
Disgusted:
If the Sierra Club knows John Kroger has done nothing for the environment, why did they endorse him?
Dec 19, '07
Adrian R--
In case you think leading the pack on Measure 49 is Greg Macpherson's only pro-environment credential, you might check out his score from the Oregon League of Conservation Voters:
100 %.
What is Kroger's score?
Dec 19, '07
“Question,” I ask again: are you angry with the Sierra Club for endorsing Kroger or with Kroger for being endorsed? Nobody is attacking Machpherson’s record, but it appears the Sierra Club felt Kroger’s approach to the AG office would be more effective in protecting the environment. As I wrote above, this campaign is that rare example of candidates having fundamentally different ideas about the “metaphysics” of the office in contention. Kroger’s ideas seem to have benefited him in this instance.
Dec 19, '07
Question:
Kroger doesn't have a score because it's a legislative scorecard. Work the logic on that one.
And obviously the OLCV score doesn't hold much weight in the environmental community because the Sierra Club endorsed Kroger.
Dec 19, '07
Too bad for Kroger - getting the endorsement from a domestic terrorism organization.
While they dont commit acts under their own name they certainly have been active in funding/protecting environmental terrorists. They also have been known to trespass on private lands in the name of the misguided belief that if they want to go somewhere they are ENTITLED to be there.
This is not an endorsement to brag about!
Dec 19, '07
Wow, you are on one.
8:19 p.m.
Dec 19, '07
after seeing both Kroger & Macpherson before the Multnomah County Dems, it's an easy pick for me: John Kroger. far more concrete platform, a record of getting things done (sending bad guys to jail and not getting whacked in the process), and the kind of energy that can't be faked and says this guy is gonna be someone people will have to work with. i especially appreciated that in talking about meth & other drugs, treatment was not a sidebar; it was a vital component of the whole package.
Macpherson tried to argue that we need an AG with legislative background, as previous AG's have had, like Myers & Kulo. sorry, Greg, wrong argument to make to progressives. i think i'll go with someone with a courtoom background. after all, i always dug Perry Mason.
Dec 19, '07
Gee, and I was just telling a friend I ran into in the store today how impressed I was with the civil tone between them when they spoke to Marion County Dems. My friend has in the past survived a nasty primary, so he was really happy to hear about that.
He has been around long enough to know Greg Macpherson but barely recognized the name Kroger. I told him to be sure and see Kroger at his earliest opportunity. My friend said the only concern he had heard about Greg was not a strong enough personality for the AG office, and I said Kroger seemed like a cross between Eliott Spitzer and Eliot Ness.
My friend said he didn't pay serious attention to primaries until after Filing Day and I tend to agree with him.
Dec 19, '07
In the original post, it quoted the Oregonian as saying Macpherson led in endorsements from ex Oregon governors, 2-1. So let's see, that's Kitzhaber, Roberts and, uh, Goldshmidt?
Please, tell me which one Neil endorsed and I'll vote the other way.
Dec 19, '07
In the original post, it quoted the Oregonian as saying Macpherson led in endorsements from ex Oregon governors, 2-1. So let's see, that's Kitzhaber, Roberts and, uh, Goldshmidt?
Please, tell me which one Neil endorsed and I'll vote the other way.
Dec 20, '07
Pennoyer remarks:
"Not to mention your single-minded obsession/hatred over PERS reform, mrfearless. Let's not leave that out!"
No problem. Macpherson was Kulo's hand-picked henchman on PERS reform. It cost me big time, while PERS is busy stacking up big returns year after year. Without the reforms, PERS would be 100% funded right now. With the reforms, they're about 106% funded. So Macpherson and Kulo came after me for NO reason. I admit my dislike for Macpherson's role and probably wouldn't vote for him on those grounds alone.
But Kroger's record in prosecuting actual crimes in civil and criminal areas is precisely what we need in the AG's office. We don't need a private plan pension lawyer with Legislative experience.
And to keep it clear, Macpherson has been my state representative for slightly less than 6 years. Our district isn't that impressed with him. There are already many qualified candidates chomping at the bit to replace him. I hope it will be time to say "bye bye Greg".
Dec 20, '07
It's clear that McPherson has a good record on the environment. That is why the Sierra Club endorsement of Kroger is interesting. The club is not politically naive. I doubt that Kroger bought them off. So, the Sierra Club interview committee must have see some significant potential for environmental protection with John Kroger as attorney general.
1:04 p.m.
Dec 20, '07
Gil
nothing on Macpherson's website about 2-1 govs; just Babs & Kulo. probably not a bad thing to check things first. esp if the O is your source.
Dec 20, '07