Conservation group launches $613,000 "Vote Environment" advertising effort in Sacramento to raise environmental issues with candidates and voters

WASHINGTON - Conservationists predict that voters will make the environment a top-tier voting issue in the 2000 elections. To make that claim a reality, the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (LCVEF) will launch a $613,000 "Vote Environment" advertising program in the Sacramento media market. The Sacramento advertising effort is part of a $7.4 million national advertising, polling, and grassroots public education effort designed to encourage candidates running for all levels of public office to address environmental issues and to urge voters to find out where the candidates stand on such issues.

The ads, airing on Sacramento television stations from June 7 through July 12, highlight children's needs and clean water and inform viewers that "Who We Elect Matters," urging them to "Vote Environment." LCVEF also launched ads in Washington, D.C., Austin, Texas, Seattle, Wash., Nashville, Tenn., Atlanta, Ga., Columbus, Ohio, Lansing, Mich., Minneapolis, Minn., and will soon air ads in Billings, Mont.

"Throughout the country, voters are paying more attention to issues that directly affect the quality of their lives, from the safety of the water they drink and the quality of the air they breathe, to suburban sprawl that is eating away at green space and increasing traffic congestion," said Deb Callahan, LCVEF president. "This is the year when the environment will emerge as a critical election issue - an issue that candidates seeking all levels of elective office will be well-served to address."

As a key component of the public education effort, LCVEF also launched a www.VoteEnvironment.org Web site that houses the television ads and encourages visitors to take an on-line pledge to ask the candidates where they stand on environmental issues and to "Vote Environment."

The Web site also contains the group's extensive environmental polling data. Over the course of the year, LCVEF is evaluating the saliency of environmental issues and how they influence voter participation. Working with state environmental groups and a variety of pollsters, the group this year will conduct 23 state and three national polls on environmental and conservation issues and their relationship to civic participation. The polling analysis will be available over the Internet.

Al Quinlan, president of Greenberg Quinlan Research Inc., conducted the first national poll. About the findings Quinlan said, "Political candidates, regardless of political party, can benefit by including environmental issues in their campaigns. Not only do environmental issues, especially clean air and water, appeal directly to the quality of life and health concerns of voters, but candidates who embrace these issues are viewed in a significantly more positive light by voters."

Callahan added, "This useful research, coupled with the 'Vote Environment' program will encourage voters to find out where candidates from the state house to the White House stand on environmental issues and urge those candidates to actually address the issues." The League of Conservation Voters Education Fund is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to raising awareness about environmental issues, increasing the capacity and effectiveness of state and local environmental groups, and encouraging citizens to participate in the democratic process. For more information, please visit the LCV Education Fund Web site at www.VoteEnvironment.org.