Republicans for Environmental Protection
News Release
Congressman Christopher Shays (CT) was awarded the title of Greenest Republican in Congress, thanks to his achieving a perfect score in the third annual Congressional Scorecard released today by Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), a national conservation organization with a grassroots membership that also includes many elected Republican officeholders.
The scorecard, which ranks Republicans only, is available on line at: http://www.rep.org/scorecard.html.
“Chris Shays’ score of 103 was among the top three in both houses of Congress, thanks to his perfect voting record and steadfast leadership on rivers conservation, climate, and clean energy issues. Voters in Connecticut and across the nation can always count on Congressman Shays to safeguard our environment and to be a true steward of the country’s natural treasures,” said REP President Martha Marks.
Shays’ score of 103 represented a perfect voting record on the 15 environmental votes scored and an environmental leadership credit for his co-sponsorship of the Eightmile Wild and Scenic River Act, which passed Congress as part of consolidated public lands legislation and was signed into law by President Bush on May 8.
Shays shared the title of “Greenest Republican in Congress” with Congressman Dave Reichert (WA) who also scored 103, and with Senator Susan Collins, (ME), whose score of 104 was the functional equivalent of Shays’ and Reichert’s as a result of the formula REP uses to calculate scores. All three had perfect voting records and an extra credit for environmental leadership.
“If all of our Congressional leaders possessed Congressman Shays’ commitment to environmental protection and his keen understanding of the issues, we would be much further along in resolving many of today’s most pressing environmental challenges,” said Marks. “Keeping GOP environmental champions like Congressman Shays in office should be a priority for anyone who cares about responsible stewardship of our environment.”
The overall environmental performance of Republicans in Congress showed mixed results. The average score of Senate Republicans improved from 13 percent in both 2005 and 2006, to 27 percent in 2007, while the House Republican average fell from 30 percent in 2006 to 21 percent in 2007. The House decline, in large part, reflected the electoral loss in 2006 of eight of the 109th Congress’ top-scoring pro-conservation Republicans.
“At a time when our party leaders are reassessing the GOP brand, they should follow the lead of those who did well on this scorecard and recognize that good stewardship and conservation are core conservative values, values which are shared by the vast majority of Americans,” said REP Government Affairs Director David Jenkins.
“We have a strong core group of Republican lawmakers who are following in the footsteps of great GOP conservation leaders like Theodore Roosevelt, former Senator William Roth, and former Congressman John Saylor,” said REP Policy Director Jim DiPeso.
“Our scorecard is an essential tool for tracking our party’s environmental performance and a measure of REP’s progress toward its mission of restoring natural resource conservation and sound environmental protection as fundamental elements of the Republican Party's vision for America,” said DiPeso.
Paid for and authorized by the Christopher Shays for Congress Committee, Ralph DePanfilis, Treasurer
Christopher Shays for Congress | 98 East Avenue | Norwalk, CT 06851
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