"Sierra Club must save its soul"

From the NY Daily News:

Dick Lamm, public policy gadfly and former Democratic governor of Colorado, is being denounced these days as a right-wing extremist, neo-Nazi and racist. His offense is that he is one of three men running for the Sierra Club board of directors on a platform of limiting immigration to protect the environment. In response, the leadership of the club and its allies have been playing the race card with berserk ferocity. Among the charges are "environmental racism" and the "greening of hate."
These arguments assume that any urge to cap or slow immigration is a form of anti-Latino or anti-Asian bigotry. "It's hate," the Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope said of the splinter group endorsing the insurgent candidates...

Pope has shamelessly tried to connect Lamm, Morris and Pimentel to the most extreme anti-immigration people. He told The New York Times: "If somebody who isn't a Nazi is put on the ballot by the American Nazi Party" it can be difficult to tell the candidate from his dubious backers. Good grief. Next we will be hearing that Franklin Roosevelt may have been a commie because Stalin fought on his side during World War II...

Early media coverage has focused on incendiary charges of a hostile takeover of Sierra by extremists. Soon the media will figure out that the club is actually conducting a smear campaign.

This disgraceful effort by the Sierra Club has turned the spotlight on the leadership itself, its lack of candor about who its powerful donors might be, and its tactic of trying to sway an election with ugly charges. The organization should act quickly to make things right.

"Soon the media will figure out that the club is actually conducting a smear campaign"? And here I thought the media was a willing participant in the smear campaign. For an example, see the dissection of an L.A. Times article on the election.

Immigration2003 · Tue, 03/30/2004 - 11:55 · · Importance: 1