CLCV Board Chair-elect Rick Zbur shares CLCV’s top priorities in Part 2 of his introduction.
(Part two of a two-part series; see Rick’s introduction here.)
As the California League of Conservation Voters transitions to new leadership of our Board of Directors, I want to share our top priorities with our members, the environmental community, and our partners in labor and the business community.
Defending California’s Landmark Environmental Laws
The deep economic recession has resulted in calls by some in California and at the federal level to unravel California’s landmark climate change laws, AB 32 and SB 375; the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), which protects our communities from unchecked development; and a host of other critical California and federal environmental and public health safeguards.
At CLCV we know that a strong economy and good jobs are not inconsistent with strong environmental protection. On the contrary, the transition to a clean energy economy presents one of the key opportunities for the creation of new high-wage jobs. In the absence of progress at the federal level, California’s leadership serves as the best example to the nation and the world that policies that help us conserve resources while relying less on polluting fossil fuels and more on renewable energy can spur job growth. Protecting and defending these laws from these misleading attacks is a key priority for CLCV.
Developing New Strategies to Elect Environmental Leaders
As the nonpartisan political action arm of the environmental movement in California, CLCV has achieved great success in the past decades in significantly increasing the number of environmental leaders serving in elected office. However, upcoming changes in California’s electoral process—including redistricting by a non-partisan commission, and the upcoming open primaries—will transform the Golden State’s political landscape. These changes will require that CLCV participate in a greater number of races, and modify our electoral strategies, to ensure that we continue to elect “green” champions who are committed to their constituents’ strong environmental values. This will require more resources and even greater creativity. As a result, we will be looking for your help as we develop our electoral strategies for the upcoming election cycles.
Expanding the Environmental Tent
One of CLCV’s key successes under the leadership of outgoing Board President Tom Adams was the development of partnerships with the labor movement and key segments of the business community. Our partnership with labor has helped us achieve success in electing pro-environment/pro-job leaders. In addition, organized labor has supported our community in the creation and adoption of important environmental legislation. Both labor and the clean technology business community (among other businesses) were key partners in the recent defeat of Proposition 23, the “dirty energy proposition” that attempted to roll back California’s landmark climate change and clean energy laws. As we move ahead, we understand that our continued success is in large part dependent on maintaining and strengthening these partnerships.
Harnessing the Political Power of California’s Next Generation
CLCV is a grassroots membership organization with nearly 30,000 members. The mainstay of CLCV’s financial support comes from membership dues that are garnered through CLCV’s unique phone and field canvasses. Our members are also a key component of our mission to hold elected officials accountable to their environmental promises through our membership “calls to action.”
Californians are always on the cutting edge of technology, including developing new ways to communicate with each other. A major result is that many of us no longer have land telephone lines. CLCV is already implementing—and will continue to explore and pilot—new ways to grow our membership and harness political action supporting our priorities through online, social networking, and other communication models. For example, CLCV’s annual Environmental Scorecard is no longer just a printed piece; it’s now online and fully interactive, making it easy for members to learn about and communicate with elected representatives about their performance on environmental bills.
New communication models offer an exciting opportunity to grow our membership, the resources that support our political work, and the strength of California’s powerful environmental community.
Addressing the Environmental Concerns and Aspirations of California’s Diverse Populations
Finally, California is blessed with the creativity, energy and ingenuity that come from one of the most diverse populations of any state. Polling conducted by our sister organization, the CLCV Education Fund, indicates that support for strong environmental safeguards is uniformly shared—and in some cases, rated a higher priority—by diverse racial and ethnic communities in California. A key priority for CLCV is to assure that our staff, membership, board and program priorities reflect and address the concerns and aspirations of California’s diverse communities.
In closing, I wanted to express my deep gratitude to longtime Board President Tom Adams, who is stepping down after more than a decade of service. Under his steady and gifted leadership, CLCV has contributed to significant accomplishments for California’s environmental movement—the adoption of AB 32 and SB 375, the defeat of Proposition 23, the election of pro-environment elected officials, and significant legislation protecting our air, water and natural habitats. Tom has been at the heart of many of CLCV’s programs and his shoes will be very difficult to fill. I am personally appreciative that Tom will remain on our Board and as a key part of our leadership team.
To help fill Tom’s shoes, CLCV will also be supported by two new Vice-Chairs, Susan Frank and Leslie Friedman-Johnson. Both of them are remarkable women who have dedicated their careers to public policy and political action to protect the environment. I am also thankful to have the opportunity to serve with my other colleagues on the Board of Directors and the staff of CLCV. They are a talented, energetic, committed and principled group of individuals who will assure that CLCV remains in steady hands and builds on the strong foundation built under Tom’s leadership. I look forward to working with you during the important period ahead of us.
Rick Zbur
Board Chair-Elect, CLCV
