Environmental Group Plays Hardball With Oregon Senator Who Defected From Carbon Cap

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, a retired nurse from Gresham, Oregon, was the quiet vote that caused Senate Democrats to concede the cap-and-trade bill.

Boeing 777-223ER ‘N768AA’ American Airlines. (Alan Wilson / Flickr)
By Hannah Chinn

The Oregon League of Conservation Voters, perhaps the state's most politically active and well-funded environmental group, went after state Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson (D-Gresham) this week with a scathing social media campaign.

"Senator Monnes Anderson Sold Us Out!" the campaign says and asks voters to sign a petition demanding she commit to supporting carbon reduction legislation.

Monnes Anderso removed her support for House Bill 2020 in the final weeks of the legislative session. The Salem Reporter wrote last month that her reversal followed lobbying from the aircraft giant Boeing, which has a factory in her district.

The Oregon League of Conservation Voters formerly endorsed Monnes Anderson in 2016. But this week, it's circulating a petition asking her and other Oregon leaders to rethink their actions and pass a Clean Energy Jobs bill in 2019 or as soon as possible.

The petition accuses her of "siding with Boeing's corporate interests instead of her constituents."

"We met with her consistently throughout the session and she, the entire time, never asked a question about the bill," Paige Spence, a lobbyist for the OLCV, told WW last month. Spence says Monnes Anderson told them she "looked forward to voting yes"; only weeks later, she'd meet Sen. Peter Courtney in private and tell him she was voting no.

Social media posts indicate OLCV-led protests outside the senator's office, as well.

This isn't the first time that the group has targeted a specific legislator. In 2012, the OLCV was part of a coalition that worked to defeat incumbent Rep. Mike Schaufler in favor of now-legislator Jeff Reardon (D-Happy Valley).

Although Monnes Anderson has said she won't run for re-election next year, her colleague, Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), told WW this week that lawmakers will try again to pass some version of HB 2020 in the short February session. That's probably why the league is putting pressure on a lame duck.

Monnes Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.

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