The OLCV Endorsement Process

I am thrilled to see so much passionate interest in OLCV's endorsements this year.  We have received hundreds of comments, replies and inquiries about our endorsements process and decisions.  It all illustrates just how meaningful having the OLCV seal of approval is to candidates running for office and their supporters.  Conservation is a value that runs deep in Oregonians throughout the state.  Oregonians want to see that value reflected in their elected leaders. 

In my past life as a Campaign Manager, our campaign research regularly showed that one of the most important pieces of information to undecided voters was knowing which candidate had the support of environmental groups. As our process nears completion, I thought I would give a quick explanation of how it works and  why our endorsement makes such a big difference.   

First and most importantly, our endorsements are made by the all volunteer OLCV grassroots leadership. With the exception of statewide elections (Governor, Secretary of State, etc.) endorsment questionnaires, criteria, interviews and recommendations are developed and made by our county steering committees.  They forward their recommendations to the State PAC board (again, all volunteers) which either approves or rejects their recommendation. This ensures that all of our endorsements are made by local leaders who have a thorough understanding of the region's politics, values and history. And it keeps our endorsments focused on who is the strongest environmental candidate rather than narrow political considerations.

This is the case for Legislative, county commission and city races. In cases where a district spans multiple counties, the steering committees will form an ad hoc endorsement committee made up of representatives of all the counties. An example of this was the Metro President's race. 

It is the policy of OLCV and our chapters that we prefer and try to make solo endorsements rather than duel endorsements. And we do one endorsement in each race that runs through the general election. This may change in the future, but for now OLCV does not do seperate primary endorsements. 

This thorough, local process fosters dialogue and postive relationship-building between candidates and the conservation community. It's hard work, but in almost all cases, being this thorough leads us to the candidate most worthy of the OLCV endorsment, which as we've seen this year, matters greatly to Oregonians across the state. 

I want to highlight one endorsment in particular which I believe illustrates how our process fosters positive dialogue and builds support for the environmental agenda.

Today, OLCV will announce an enthusiastic endorsement of Senator Martha Schrader for Senate District 20.  This may come as a surprise to many people, since the environmental community had a rather high profile disagreement with her when she decided to cast a key "no" vote on SB 1032, which would have banned the sale of baby bottles and sippy cups produced with Bishpenol A.  This was one of the three priority bills of the Oregon Conservation Network, which OLCV facilitates and lobby's on behalf of. 

First, two important facts:

1.  Senator Schrader was the only candidate in the SD 20 race to apply for OLCV's endorsement.  Her opponent declined to even return the questionnaire.  This happens in many races, which changes the choice from "which is the best environmental candidate" to "is this candidate worthy of our endorsement".  

2.  While SB 1032 received the most publicity, it was less noticed that Senator Schrader supported the other two OCN priority bills, including casting a key vote in support of SB 1059, which was significant step toward reducing greenhouse gas emmissions and developing more public transportation options in cities across the state. In other words, overall Senator Schrader had a good - not great - 2010 session when it came to environmental issues. 

With this in mind, the county committee determined that she still needed to show a commitment to working with OLCV and the conservation community going forward - including toxics reform.  The fact that she applied for our endorsement and scheduled an interview was a good first step, but they were looking for stronger, speicific commitments.  During the course of her interview, Senator Schrader made those commitments.

In addition to identifying several issue areas where she want to work closely with the coservation community - Senator Schrader agreed to do thorough research about the effects of BPA. She attended an forum sponsored by the Oregon Environmental Council about BPA at OHSU. She agreed to meet with the FDA and talk with their staff about why they chose to issue guidelines to the public about how to reduce exposure to BPA. And finally, she agreed to participate in a series of three public events about conservataion issues, sponsored by OLCV, in her district this summer. 

It was determined by the county steering committee and the OLCV PAC Board, that these were significant, concrete commitments from Senator Schrader to engage in positive, public dialogue with the conservation community and our priorities. Our leadership determined that she earned the OLCV endorsment. 

This is my favorite example of how our process should work to foster positive diaologue, develop strong relationships and build the public support we need to help elect pro-conservation majorities in the Legislature and other important offices around the state. Approached differently, one disagreement during the short February session could have led to a dysfunctional, negative relationship between OLCV, the conservation community and Senator Schrader.  Instead, it served to strengthen our relationship and build trust for future Legislative sessions.