Politics and Elections

WV Sierra Club's Political Committee

Every politician claims to support clean air, drinkable water and West Virginia's wildlife and wild places. But how do you know which ones really mean it? One way is to make them seek our political endorsement during the election season.

The WV Chapter's Political Committee sends a questionnaire to each political candidate for our state legislature and our federal congressional delegation prior to the WV Primary Election. The Chapter's Political Committee reviews the returned questionnaires and conducts interviews then makes recommendations on endorsements to the Chapter Executive Committee. The "Excomm" approves any and all endorsements for state level candidates. Before final publication, candidates running on the national scene go through a further review and approval by Sierra Club's national political committee. Our general election endorsements will appear in the Nov-Dec issue of our the Chapter newsletter The Mountain State Sierran.

Endorsements will appear in our Chapter Newsletter and on our Chapter website. Click HERE for the 2010 Election Endorsements. In leui of full endorsement, the West Virginia Sierra Club supports the campaigns of Virginia Graf and Jesse Johnson. You can read a statement on this PAGE of our website.

We also occasionally do a political scorecard. Click HERE for the scorecard for the WV Senate in the 2010 legislative season.

The national Sierra Club Political Committee has guidelines for endorsing political candidates and approves Chapter endorsements for congressional candidates. One guideline to note is that membership in the Sierra Club does not guarentee endorsement of a candidate; e.g. Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger of California.

If you wish to become involved in our political work, please contact the Chair of the Chapter Political Committee.

POLITICAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Regina Hendrix, CHAIR
Charles Town, WV
Phone: 304-725-0223
E-Mail:  rh1936@frontier.com

Chris Craig
Harpers Ferry, WV
Phone: 304-535-2886
E-Mail: ccraig@laurellodge.com

Karen Grubb
Fairmont, WV
H: 304-366-0515
W-304-367-4878
E-Mail: kgrubb@fairmontstate.edu

Jim Kotcon
Morgantown, WV
H-304-594-3322
O-304-293-8822
E-Mail: jkotcon@wvu.edu

Jim Sconyers
Terra Alta, WV
Phone: 304-698-9628
E-Mail: jimscon@yahoo.com

Frank Young
Ripley, WV
H-304-372-3945
E-Mail: fyoung@mountain.net

Gwen Jones
Morgantown, WV
H-304-599-5865
E-Mail: gjones2@fairmontstate.edu

William DePaulo
Charleston, WV
W-304-342-5588
E-Mail: william.depaulo@gmail.com