Washington Conservation Voters (WCV)—the state affiliate of the nation’s extreme “green” leader, the League of Conservation Voters—recently sent out an email to supporters announcing its decision to endorse Initiative 735 and asking them to sign the initiative.
The initiative is sponsored by the Washington Coalition to Amend the Constitution (Wamend), in an effort to get enough states to demand a U.S. constitutional amendment to overturn certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions, most notably Citizens United.
As WCV’s email points out, I-735 campaign would make Washington State the 17th state in the nation to go “on record demanding a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.” If I-735 gathers the requisite amount of signatures, voters will have the opportunity to vote on it in 2016.
WCV’s endorsement of I-735 should come as no surprise. After all, this isn’t the first lefty initiative WCV has endorsed and it won’t be the last. Unfortunately, the stunning level of hypocrisy WCV uses to justify its endorsement also comes as no surprise. The email starts off by stating,
“Washington Conservation Voters has endorsed Initiative 735 because we know the influence big money can have on environmental policy. Though the majority of Americans want meaningful climate action, moneyed interests continue to block significant climate policy…”
WCV is our state’s largest environmental donor. In 2012, the group donated a whopping $1 million to elect Jay Inslee governor. From 2013 to 2014, WCV funneled over $1 million from California billionaire Tom Steyer to Democrat candidates in hopes of acquiring a green-friendly Democrat majority in the state Senate. Yet, WCV has the gall to state, “…We know the influence big money can have on environmental policy.”
Not only was WCV complicit in Steyer’s “dark money” scheme, the extreme “green” group has also attempted to influence state policy—on more than one occasion. In an email to supporters during the 2015 legislative session, the WCV promoted the state House Democrats’ transportation package by extolling the “green” virtues of Democrats’ plan while condemning the Republican-controlled state Senate’s bipartisan proposal.
WCV opposed the Senate’s bipartisan proposal because it contained a consumer protection provision against Jay Inslee jamming his gas-price raising fuel mandate scheme through by executive order, rather than submitting it to the Legislature for a vote. It was big “green” money attempting to have an impact on environmental policy at its finest.
WCV’s reasoning for supporting I-735 is the height of hypocrisy. But, it’s unlikely the extreme “green” organization even realizes—or cares—about it. That’s because self-righteous environmentalists insist that they are above these practices because they are pursuing selfless goals. If WCV uses big money to influence environmental policy, then it’s okay because they are doing it for supposedly noble reasons.
