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2008 Election Candidate Forum:
The Candidates
Jim Dougherty's responses to the 16 questions of the candidate forum:
Candidate responses were limited to 150 words per question.
1: What leadership positions have you held in the Sierra Club and what have you accomplished in those positions?
Group Positions:
Secretary 1985-86
Conservation Chair - 1983-89
Excom 1983-89
Chapter Positions (Potomac Chapter 1984-93, D.C. Chapter 1993-present):
Legal Chair 1985-89, 1994-present
Conservation Chair 1985-86, 1995-1996
Secretary 1985-86
Chair 1986-88
Political Committee 1994-present
Excom 1984-89, 1994-97
Fundraising Chair 1985-88 (Received Kerhlein
National Fundraising Award 1988)
Pizza Chair (honorary) - 1995-present
Nominating Committee - 1993 - present
Received Walter A. Starr Award for continued service by a former director (or some such) 2001
National Positions:
- Club Director 1989-1992, 2005 - present
- Sierra Club Council - member or alternate - 1984-89
Chair, Committee on Chapter and Groups 1988-89
- Chair, Membership Committee’s Task Force on Low-Income Membership 1984-85
- Legal Committee and Litigation Subcommittee 1990-present
- Co-Director, Shareholder Action Task Force, 1990-92, 2002-2005
- Member, Youth Initiative Task Force, 2006 - present
- Conservation GovCom 2001- present
Vice Chair May 2004 - 2005
- Finance GovCom - 2006-2007
2: What, if any, endorsements have you received from Club chapters or leaders?
Endorsed by former Presidents Ed Wayburn, Michele Perrault, Larry Fahn, and the Angeles, San Francisco Bay, San Diego, Oregon, Missouri, New Jersey, Mother Lode, North Star, Tehipite, Virginia, District of Columbia, Florida, Tennessee, and Santa Lucia Chapters.
3: The Board of Directors has appointed the Organizational Change Steering Committee to come up with recommendations for making changes to the organizational structure of the Club. The OCSC has come up with a draft proposal called Project Renewal which will be acted on at the February Board meeting. Please present your thoughts on Project Renewal and, in particular, whether you, given the opportunity, would vote in favor of the OCSC's current recommendations.
I was a vocal and persistent critic of Project Renewal, objecting to the composition of the Committee, its non-transparent M.O., its failure to deliver on its charge, and the unsoundness of many of its recommendations, e.g., having committee members appointed by committee leaders. Alone among Directors, I repeatedly voted against adoption of P.R. At the February Board meeting, I scolded the Board for ignoring the resolutions of 23 chapters requesting that we approach the matter of reorganization more deliberately.
Now that it’s a done deal, we need to make the best of it.
4: What special abilities would you bring to Sierra Club leadership?
I have 30 years experience as an environmental lawyer and volunteer activist/leader (i.e., day and night since 1978). I have led more than a dozen campaigns to stop bad projects (e.g., highways through parks) or promote positive solutions (e.g., tree-protection legislation).
I strive to bring to my Board (and other committee) service a passion for the work and a commitment to our shared vision.
I am seen as something of a “gadfly” on the current Board. I am dissatisfied with the pace, intensity, and creativity of our current global warming (or “climate change,” in Club vernacular) campaign. I dissent from our current plan to allow our membership to decline to 700,000 from its high of 800,000. I am concerned that the Club is losing touch with its volunteer, grassroots traditions.
I am an ardent wilderness lover and backpacker, as well as a semi-professional landscape photographer.
5: What do you view as the most important responsibilities of a Sierra Club Director?
Doing one’s homework and persistently asking “what else can we do?” Clair Tappaan Lodge - I have consistently supported budgeting a subsidy in order to keep CTL open, a position I will adhere to.
6: Having prioritized energy and climate work with the Smart Energy Solutions conservation initiative, what do you see as the most important things that the Sierra Club must do to respond to the urgent threat of climate change and win victories on this issue in the coming years?
First of all, let’s not buy into the Bush vernacular of “climate change.”
Second, let’s find a healthy balance between pushing “smart solutions” and slaying dragons, e.g., fighting mountain-top removal and coal-fired power plant builders.
Third, let’s advocate real, cutting edge, even expensive measures to reduce GHG emissions over slow, technical, easy stuff like 3% annual improvements in vehicle efficiency (35 MPG by 2020).
By this I mean calling for a new federal Department of Climate Security; creating a $3-billion Civilian Energy Corps to weatherize low-income homes, schools, etc; spending $5 billion to install photovoltaic panels on every U.S. building in this country and around the world, and $10 billion for residential solar tax credits: banning incandescent light bulbs; creating an alliance with musicians, actors, politicians, students and others to “take it to the streets.” In this election year we should be setting standards that candidates strive to meet.
7: Many people feel that the environment is not an important factor in deciding federal elections. Why do you think this is, and what strategies should the Club pursue for electing pro-environment candidates to office?
Sorry, but I don’t think that political strategizing should be conducted on public listserves.
8: The environment is sometimes an important factor in deciding local and state elections. What strategies should the club pursue for electing pro-environment candidates to local and state offices?
See answer to #7, above.
9: What do you feel is the image of environmentalists in general and of the Sierra Club in particular, and how would you change or reinforce that image?
I think that enviros are seen as principled, visionary and altruistic, yet perhaps insufficiently concerned with more basic human needs, e.g., jobs. We need to make clear that there is no separation between these issues. The jobs will shrink if we ignore environmental conservation; they will balloon if we get ahead of the environmental curve.
10: What do you see as the role of outings in the Club, both National outings (including international) and those organized by chapters and groups? What changes would you like to see in these programs?
Outings are the Club’s life blood. I was disturbed to see that Project Renewal did not propose to preserve the national outings committee as a Board committee.
I’m an active outdoorsman and a former professional wilderness guide.
11: The Club is structured with a Board of Directors, governance committees, Council of Club Leaders, chapters, groups, and sections as the prominent entities. If you could change this structure or how it functions, how would you change it?
In my view this question is moot in light of the Board’s recent approval of Project Renewal.
12: What, if any, are the key differences between 21st century grassroots organizing and 20th century grassroots organizing, and how might the Sierra Club change in response?
While it would be easy to say that we need to be more powerfully on line (which is so), I do not see this as a talismanic solution to our problems. Organizing will require people-to-people connections for the foreseeable future. We are not MoveOn.
I have called for an evaluation of a substantial expansion of our canvass program. It may be that putting hundreds of recruiters in the streets will help up meet the evolving challenge.
13: What new technologies, and what new organizational processes should the Club adopt to improve the connection between National operations and grassroots leadership?
Technologies and processes are not the solution. It is more important for the Board and national staff to simply get that we are, above all else, grassroots. We accomplish more on behalf of Mother Nature at the Group and Chapter level than at the national level, in my opinion. We need to empower our volunteers to be more effective.
14: What are some measures the Club should take to improve leadership development? What other grassroots capacity-building actions, if any, would you recommend?
I led the (unsuccessful) effort to restore $70,000 in 2008 budget funds for national support for chapter fundraising programs. I have called for expanded rollout of the Leadership Development Project. I support the primacy of Chapters and Groups.
15: The Sierra Club has limited resources. Where is it most important for the Club to focus its volunteer and financial resources over the next four years?
Global warming is where the outside money is. I support ramping up a big campaign that will garner that support.
I am confident that we will never weaken our century-old commitment to defending wild places and critters. I will fight to assure that such work is not lost amidst the hubbub of GW.
16: The club is undertaking work to bring more youth and diverse cultures into our membership and leadership. What specific strategies would you suggest?
I’m a big fan of both efforts, having worked on the inside to develop the recommendation of the Youth Integration Task Force. I have also proposed adoption of affirmative action in our procurement decisionmaking – to promote diversity.
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