MA Delegation Earns Top Scores For Environmental Voting Record

Thursday, March 07, 2013

GoLocalWorcester Politics Team

The Commonwealth's Washington delegation received high marks overall for last year's legislative session when it came to environmental issues, according to the League of Conservation Voters' 2012 National Environmental Scorecard. All of the Representatives and Senators from Mass., with the exception of former Republican Senator Scott Brown, beat the national average for the U.S. House and Senate by a wide margin, and even Brown eked by at just 1 point above the mean.

The 2012 Scorecard included votes during the second session of the 112th Congress. It includes 14 Senate votes and, for the second consecutive year, a record 35 House votes on issues ranging from public health protections to clean energy to land and wildlife conservation.

Nationwide, 85 House members and 37 Senators earned a score of 90 percent or greater on the 2012 Scorecard, while 175 House members and 17 Senators earned an abysmal score of 10 percent or less. The average House score in 2012 was 42 percent and the average Senate score was 56 percent.

“The best that can be said about this session of the 112th Congress is that it’s over,” said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

“In the face of Hurricane Sandy and the hottest year on record in the U.S., the House of Representatives managed to cement its status as the most anti-environmental House ever. If it weren’t for the Senate and the Obama Administration, many of the public health safeguards Americans rely on would have been lost.”

How did Kerry and Brown do?

Neither John Kerry nor Scott Brown is currently representing the Commonwealth in the Senate, but their differences on environmental bills are readily apparent judging by their scores.

For 2012, Brown received a score of 57 percent, just one point above the U.S. Senate average. The Republican's lifetime score was markedly lower at just 38 percent.

Kerry, on the other hand, posted a 93 percent score for 2012, slightly above his lifetime score of 91 percent.

High scores in the House

U.S. Rep. and current candidate for U.S. Senate, Ed Markey, led the Bay State's House delegation with a perfect score of 100 percent in environmental issues on the 2012 environmental scorecard. Markey's lifetime score was 94 percent.

The League of Conservation Voters had endorsed Markey in his Senate campaign, where he faces fellow Congressman Stephen Lynch in the Democratic primary. Lynch added a score of 89 percent in 2012 to his lifetime score of 94 percent.

Reps. Bill Keating and Jim McGovern both posted 97 percent scores on the 2012 scorecard, with lifetime scores of 97 percent and 99 percent respectively.

Reps. Richard Neal and Niki Tsongas tied for the lowest score among the Mass. House delegation with 86 percent in 2012. Neal's lifetime score was 90 percent, and Tsongas' was 93 percent.

Former Rep. Barney Frank posted an 89 percent score in 2012 and a lifetime score of 92 percent, while Reps. John Olver and Michael Capuano both recorded scores of 91 percent in 2012 and lifetime scores of 96 percent and 95 percent respectively.

For more information and detailed scores, visit the League of Conservation Voters' Scorecard website.