Sierra Club criticizes legislators
One lawmaker gets a perfect score
for votes on environmental bills
Only one state lawmaker earned a perfect score in the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter's 2003-2004 Legislature Environmental Scorecard released yesterday.
The scorecard rates individual legislators based on their voting record on bills the organization supported during the past two legislative sessions.
The Sierra Club gave Sen. Les Ihara (D, Kaimuki-Kapiolani Park) a 100 percent score based on his floor votes on eight bills, his vote on an appointment to the state Water Commission and other actions he took during the sessions.
In the Sierra Club's scorecard released two years ago, eight lawmakers received perfect scores.
Rep. Colleen Meyer (R, Laie-Ahuimanu) received a 7 percent score, the lowest among all lawmakers, based on her floor votes on 10 bills.
"Some of these bills are so cockamamie they didn't have the votes to pass," Meyer said.
Seven of the 10 bills on which her score is based failed to make it out of the Legislature. Meyer said she is proud of her record and that the bills the Sierra Club highlights do not reflect what she has done to protect the environment.
"I don't owe my seat to this environmental lobbying group," she said.
Meyer's score in the previous report was 13 percent.
Jeff Mikulina, Sierra Club Hawaii's director, said the scorecard gives people a tool to see how their elected representatives voted on issues important to Hawaii's environment.
Sierra Club scorecards:
