State Legislative News

18 Lawmakers Get Perfect Scores on Annual Legislative Scorecard

Raleigh—Six state senators, nine state representatives, and three members of North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation received perfect scores on key votes affecting the state’s air, water, natural areas, and quality of life, according to Environment North Carolina’s annual legislative scorecard, released today.

Triangle, Western North Carolina, and Charlotte were the regions of the state with the most environmental champions.  And for the first time, two Republicans—Reps. Charles Thomas and Carolyn Justice—received perfect environmental scores.

Environment North Carolina is distributing the scorecards to more than 40,000 households across the state as part of its door-to-door campaign to pass legislation to curb global warming pollution from cars, trucks, and SUV’s.  An interactive version of the scorecard is also available online.

North Carolina House representatives voting to protect the environment 100% of the time were: Reps. Martha Alexander (Mecklenburg), Susan Fisher (Buncombe), Rick Glazier (Cumberland), Pricey Harrison (Guilford), Verla Insko (Orange), Carolyn Justice (Pender), Paul Luebke (Durham), Charles Thomas (Buncombe) and Jennifer Weiss (Wake). 

The Senate’s environmental champions were:  Doug Berger (Franklin), Janet Cowell (Wake), Ellie Kinnaird (Orange), Malcolm Graham (Mecklenburg), Martin Nesbitt (Buncombe), and John Snow (Cherokee).

And in Congress, Reps. David Price (Orange) Brad Miller (Wake), and Mel Watt (Mecklenburg) all received perfect marks.

“These scorecards are an important tool to educate the public about the voting records of their elected officials and to honor public officials that have a record of putting the environment first,” said Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment North Carolina State Director.

The group’s State Legislative Scorecard tracked key environmental votes from the 2007 Long Session in both the House and the Senate.  The Congressional Scorecard tracked critical conservation votes in the U.S. House and Senate from March 2007 to February of this year.