The Democrats in the race for president agree on more issues than they disagree. Despite that Vice-President Al Gore was thought to have no challengers on one issue, the environment. But the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports the environment is an issue that former Senator Bill Bradley is also claiming.
Transcript
The democrats in the race for president agree on more issues than they
disagree. Despite that, Vice-President Al Gore was thought to have no
challengers on one issue, the environment. But the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports the environment is an issue that
former Senator Bill Bradley is also claiming:
During his career in Congress, Al Gore kept the environment at the center
of his agenda. He was the first member of congress to hold hearings on
global warming. In fact, during the 1992 campaign, then President Bush
called Gore the “ozone man,” painting Gore as an environmental extremist.
Few questioned Gore’s credentials as an environmentalist.
That’s why when an environmental group endorsed Bill Bradley, it sent
shockwaves throughout the Gore campaign. Brent Blackwelder is the
president of the Friends of the Earth political action committee. He says
the group endorsed Bradley because he has a superior environmental
record.
“His voting record on environmental issues was better than that of Vice-President
Gore’s when they were in the U.S. Congress and Bradley actually passed more environmental
legislation.
he actually got results. The Vice-President was good on the rhetoric, but short on the
legislation.”
Another group, the League of Conservation Voters, reports on its
Congressional environmental scorecard, Bradley’s lifetime voting
average was 84-percent. Gore’s average was 64-percent.
Bradley has been bolstered by the Friends of the Earth endorsement and
The League of Conservation Voters’ profile. On the campaign trail in New
Hampshire he’s not shied away from talking about the environment as one
of his top priorities.
“And then, of course, it’s to protect the natural world. So, that we can allow our
children to
have the same experience we’ve had in New Hampshire, in states across this country, the
chance to
experience something that’s bigger than you are and lasts longer than you do.”
Although Bradley has not made the environment the centerpiece of his
campaign… It’s been more prominent than expected by some political observers. Allan J.
Lichtman is a professor of history at American
University and author of the book Keys to the White House. Bradley has
staked his claim on the environment as an issue.
“And I think he feels with the support of insurgents like the Friends of the Earth, that
if
they are to get into a tussle over the environment, that there are vulnerabilities in the
Clinton-Gore record
that he could press and even in the debates we’ve seen on a couple of occasions Bill
Bradley has in fact
been the one to bring up at least issues related to the environment and Al Gore has not.”
Lichtman says while Bradley is taking advantage of his position, behind the
scenes, many of the players in the large environmental groups are quietly
backing Gore.
During Bradley’s entire eighteen years in the Senate, he sat on the Energy and
Natural Resources Committee. He says he fought for reforms in laws on
water, timber, grazing, and mining on public lands. Environmental groups
generally give his work a high rating, but complain that he only led on a
narrow band of issues.
On the campaign trail, Bradley talks about protecting the environment in
pragmatic terms. He says the time of adversarial relationships between
environmentalists and industrialists should be past.
“I think that the environmental movement has been critical in putting the issue before the
people and putting the pressure on. But, I think that the ultimate solution is doing
what’s in our own self-interest in the long-run, what’s in our corporate self-interest, if you’re
the head of a corporation, or in our
individual interest, and that is to preserve this environment. To clean up the pollution.”
Bradley supports free markets, but not to the detriment of the
environment.
He says there should be no global trade agreements that make it more
difficult to enforce domestic environmental protection. In fact, he
believes such agreements can be used to improve the global environment.
“I think that global warming’s a good example of something you can‘t deal with simply
domestically. You have to deal with it internationally.
and the forum of multi-lateral negotiations is the way to do that. And because there is a
world trade
organization, you have a better chance of dealing with that issue than you would if we
were simply a
country alone without real relationships through trade.”
Bradley’s record on the environment includes being among the first to
support superfund legislation. He’s fought for wilderness protection
and he’s worked to protect marine areas.
While Bradley has been more vocal about the environment on the
campaign trail, professor Allan Lichtman says the two democrats are not
that far apart.
“But the truth is there isn’t a fundamental difference between Bradley and Gore the way
there is a fundamental difference between either Bradley and Gore and George W. Bush on
the republican
side and so this may become much more of an issue when we get to the general election
unless it is John
McCain, who edges closer to the democrats on the environmental issues, but is not fully in
accord with the
democratic approach.”
Lichtman says because Bradley and Gore’s positions on the environment
are similar, it’s likely other issues will have a greater affect the outcome
of the democratic primary elections.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.