Letter to the Editor: Sierra Club Endorsements Are Based on Candidates' Records

Dear Editor:

In her editor, Kathleen Burns criticizes the for Alexandria City Council in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. Ms. Burns’s objections center on the positions of the endorsed candidates – Donna Fossum, Sean Holihan, Tim Lovain, Del Pepper, Paul Smedberg and Justin Wilson – on development issues, particularly the Beauregard Small Area Plan, in which Ms. Burns has an active interest.

The Sierra Club’s endorsements are based on the totality of candidates’ records on the environment. In addition, we evaluate candidates’ campaign viability, as required by Club guidelines. The Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club reviewed the evaluations of local Club volunteers and approved the endorsements we recommended. The national Club headquarters, at Ms. Burns’s request, reviewed our endorsement efforts and has found no violations of Club policies or procedures.

We met with Ms. Burns, listened to her evaluations of the candidates, and considered her opinions. As we stated in our press release, we were impressed with many of the candidates and found more than six that we could have supported. Our endorsements were of those we felt were the strongest environmental candidates based on their positions, backgrounds, and knowledge of environmental issues. In the end our analysis simply differed from Ms. Burns.

Dean Amel, Chair
Sierra Club - Mt. Vernon Group