Gabrielle Giffords Endorsed By Sierra Club

Group Lauds Her as “Environmental Champion” and “Most Valuable Player”

TUCSON €“ Congressional Candidate Gabrielle Giffords was officially endorsed today by the Sierra Club, America’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

“We are thrilled to support this environmental champion and to announce our official endorsement of former state senator Gabrielle Giffords,” said Lynn DeMuth, chair of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter Political Committee. “While in the Arizona Legislature, Ms. Giffords was recognized repeatedly by the Sierra Club for her outstanding environmental work. We are pleased to do so again as she seeks this new opportunity to serve the public.”

The Sierra Club awarded her as the “Most Valuable Player” in the Legislature for her work to protect Arizona’s open spaces. She was also recognized by the League of Conservation Voters with a “100%” rating in 2005.

“Taking good care of our land is a Southern Arizona tradition,” Giffords said. “We need to preserve and protect our open spaces so our children and grandchildren will share the same connection to the land as we do. That’s why I am honored to have the support of the Sierra Club, whose members understand the value of protecting our land, air and water.”

“We have a priceless gift in the natural beauty of Southern Arizona,” Giffords said. “This is one of our most valuable resources in Arizona, and it requires that we find a way to balance our fast growth in population with conservation and open space needs. We can enjoy strong economic growth and protect our natural heritage and our good-paying jobs at the same time. I believe that this is possible if we work in cooperation at the local, state and federal levels.”

In Congress, Giffords has pledged to:

• continue to support our nationally recognized Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan.
• protect our only free-flowing river in Arizona, the San Pedro River, with continued funding and federal support for the Upper San Pedro Partnership.
• restore true clean air and water policies, and provide incentives for people to conserve our natural resources and use them wisely.
• oppose administration efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.
• protect our fragile water resources by upgrading U.S. sewer systems, and prevent pollution of our natural water networks of streams, wetlands and groundwater aquifers.

The Sierra Club’s endorsement is a two-step, volunteer-driven process. Endorsement requests originate at the chapter level, where candidates are thoroughly screened and often personally interviewed by Sierra Club volunteers. Once approved by the state political committee and the chapter’s executive committee, the endorsement is forwarded to the national volunteer Sierra Club Political Committee, which then votes on whether to approve the request at that time. Once this committee approves the request, the candidate is officially notified of the Sierra Club endorsement.

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