Michigan Environmental Council

Michigan
Environmental Report

Volume 22 . Number 6
December 2004

PURPOSE
Founded in 1980, MEC is a coalition of over 60 environmental, public health, and faith-based organizations with nearly 200,000 individual members. For over 20 years, MEC has provided a voice at the State Capitol. In addition to serving as a clearinghouse of environmental information, MEC develops public policy, educates elected officials and the public, and provides training and support to member organizations.

SUBSCRIBE

OFFICERS

Chairperson
Chris Graham,
Michigan Natural Areas Council

Vice Chair
Vicki Levengood,
National Environmental Trust

Vice Chair
Terry Miller,
Lone Tree Council

Treasurer
Tom Leonard,
West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Secretary
Brian Imus,
PIRGIM

MEC STAFF

President
Lana Pollack

Policy Director
James Clift

Associate Director
Patrick Diehl

Land Programs Director
Conan Smith

Special Projects Coodinator
Brad Garmon

Office Manager
Judy Bearup

Member Services Director
Michele Scarborough

Policy Specialist
David Gard

Policy Advisor
Dave Dempsey

Environmental Campaign Coordinator
Wendi Tilden

ECCO Field Director
Stephanie Anderson

Land Programs Assistant
Ben Stupka

MER Design & Layout
Rose Homa

Victories for environmental values

By Stephanie Anderson, MEC Field Director

Does the environment matter to voters? Just ask former State Rep. Matt Milosch and his successor, Kathy Angerer. In the race for House District 55, voters had many opportunities to think about environmental issues. And when they went to the ballot box on November 2nd, they voted their values and upset the incumbent.

Although MEC and its member groups are nonprofits that do not endorse candidates or work to support anyone's election, groups can (and this year did) engage in a number of activities to make politicians aware that the environment is important to their constituents and to give citizens the tools to make informed choices.

The intensity of interest in this year's elections offered an opportunity and venue for us to build relationships with citizens, community leaders and politicians. Those relationships, forged in the heat of the public debate over what matters to Michiganders, strengthen our power for the coming legislative session and beyond.

One avenue for informing citizens and holding politicians accountable is the candidate forum. In an extremely close race in House District 56 (Monroe), the candidate forum sponsored by the Ecology Center and the Michigan United Conservation Clubs focused voters' attention on issues like water diversion, land use, recycling and trash. All four candidates attended this debate, and scores of local residents turned out to hear for themselves where those candidates stood on these issues.

In the extremely close race for House District 55, incumbent Matt Milosch wanted to avoid answering questions about his environmental record and declined to participate in a candidate forum. Not being easily deterred, the Ecology Center worked with the organizers of a forum that both candidates did attend. In ensuring that an environmental question was asked, they gave voters one of the clearest distinctions between the two candidates, and the audience took notice.

In House District 26, the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) worked to make sure the candidates for that office were aware of how important the environment is to the citizens of Royal Oak and Madison Heights. Through community meetings, letters to the editor, hundreds of petition signatures, knocking on doors, working with community allies and reaching new people through a community blood drive, EMEAC made it hard for candidates to ignore their constituents' environmental concerns. EMEAC also used a questionnaire to give voters clear information on how the candidates might address important environmental issues.

It's also possible for nonprofit groups to work to turn out underrepresented voters, thereby increasing the number of citizens engaged in the process. In Grand Rapids, member organization Clean Water Action played a lead role in a coalition working to turn out voters in African-American and Latino neighborhoods. By building relationships with new non-traditional allies, providing trainings and developing the skills of those groups and volunteers, CWA was able to lead the community in unified action. The result: one of the highest voter turnout rates in the state.

Another way that non-partisan groups and citizens express their values on Election Day is through ballot initiatives. Around the state, 10 open space millages were passed-people voted to tax themselves in order to secure protections for their natural heritage.

Where does all that work leave us? In a much stronger position. One of the results of all of this work is that Michigan's state legislature is far more supportive, on both sides of the aisle. With newly-elected pro-environment representatives joining forces with our allies who were all re-elected, we are now in a much better position to advance sound environmental policy.

Even those representatives who haven't been consistently strong in reflecting their constituents' interest in environmental issues found themselves proclaiming their green credentials this year. It's now up to us to hold them accountable for those promises and keep their attention on the values of their constituents.

Perhaps the best outcome of this work is that hundreds of citizens became engaged with our member groups in a deeper way, and thousands of people were asked to think about environmental issues as they made their voting decisions. When we give our fellow Michiganders the information they need to make informed decisions and provide them with an opportunity to act on their values, we build a stronger community.

Save the Date
Smart Growth for
Clean Water Conference

February 24, 2005

Kellogg Center, Michigan State University
East Lansing

For more information, contact Ben at (517) 487-9539 or
e-mail at benmec@voyager.net