Memo To Lamar Smith: Austin’s Not Stupid

If you are in Austin Monday, or near Austin with some time on your hands, head to Austin City hall around 9 a.m. to tell Lamar Smith you aren’t as stupid as he thinks you are.

See, Lamar Smith (the self-annointed Toilet Seat Protector) has, since time immemorial, been no friend to the environment. In 2005, his League of Conservation Voters ranking was a big fat zilch. In 2004 and 2003, his ratings were zero and a paltry nine (as I recall, I don’t have my Almanac of American Politics in front of me just at the moment). But, I do have information that tells me his composite LCV ranking from 1994-2005 is a dismal 4.5.
Yet, now, he’s trying to act like he’s been chained to trees, hiding in dark rooms making out with blind cave salmon and personally purifying rivers and streams for all of his tenure in Congress.
Ha. Ha. Ha. We know better, Lamar.

This morning, Smith is going to have a press conference at 9:00 a.m. at city hall to tell everyone in Austin what a good little environmentalist he is and how much he just loves our planet. I wouldn’t be surprised if he even used the words “greenhouse effect,” although such could result in permanent banishment from the Congressional Hospitality Suite at the Republican National Convention.

I know a number of supporters of John Courage are going to be going down to city hall to help make sure Rep. Smith knows that Austin Ain’t Stoopid. I encourage you to join them.

In the meantime, via the cool site Conservation with Courage, put out by the John Courage for Congress campaign, from which we learn the following thins about Rep. Smith:

Smith’s environmental voting score for the period 1994-2005 was a dismal 4.5%, according to the League of Conservation Voters. That puts him down toward the bottom even among Republicans across the country. His 2005 LCV score was zero.

The Texas Environmental Watch Alliance scored area Congressman on ten of their votes in 2005. Smith got a zero.

The Sierra Club scored Congressional reps on five major environmental issues for 2005. Again, Smith got a zero.
In 2005 Smith voted for the Energy bill (HR6) which provided billions of dollars in tax breaks and other subsidies to the oil, gas, and nuclear industries but very little funding to renewable energy industries.

In 2005 Smith voted against Amendment 73 to the Energy bill (HR6) that would have raised the CAFÉ standards for cars and light trucks to 33 mpg and saved 1 million barrels of oil/day by 2016.

In 2004 Smith voted for an earlier energy bill (also HR6) that would have “slighted clean, efficient energy technologies and left the currently weak automobile fuel efficiency standards in place” (LCV 2004 National Environmental Scorecard, p.19)

In 2003, Smith voted against the Boehlert-Markey amendment to 2003’s energy bill (again HR6) that would have reduced the amount of oil consumed by U.S. automobiles by 5% by 2010.

In 2001 an earlier Boehlert-Markey amendment was proposed to the 2001 House energy bill (HR4) that would have required both cars and light trucks to meet a 27.5 mpg standard by 2007. Smith voted against this amendment.

From1994 through 2005 there were 10 bills introduced into the House that addressed global climate change. Smith voted against addressing global warming 9 times out of 10.

Clearly, Smith’s bona fides are about as genuine as the proverbial whore in church: you can dress up the whore, put make up on the whore, and even take the whore to church, but she’s still a whore.

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