Hunters and anglers from Oregon and across the country who went to Washington last week to lobby for legislation on global climate change got a chilly reception in Sen. Gordon Smith's office.
"Overall, Oregon's congressional representatives are very receptive to cap-and-trade carbon dioxide reduction plans, including the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, Safe Climate Act of 2007, and Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act in the Senate," blogged Matt Stansberry of Eugene, who went to lobby on behalf of the National Wildlife Federation. "Four of the state's seven representatives are co-sponsoring climate change legislation, and the lone Democrat holdout, [Darlene] Hooley, has said she would endorse the strongest climate change legislation that comes up for a vote."
But Smith is another story, according to Stansberry:
"Despite [Smith's office] not returning phone calls, we stopped by Smith's office and waited to talk to one of his assistants. We were told that Gordon Smith's legislative correspondent, Cort Bush, would be available after a meeting; after they asked to see our materials, we were soon told that Cort didn't have time for us anymore.
"We are hunters and anglers - a significant portion of Smith's base in Oregon. It's one thing to be against climate change legislation or to have an issue with particular aspects of a bill, but it's another to ignore important constituents in an election year. Why Smith's aide could not explain the senator's position is beyond me, but it seems like a huge mistake."
