Fwd: Save the Sierra Club from Hostile Takeover

I was reading about this a couple months ago, perhaps from the heads 
list?

Apparently there are a few separate attempts to change the direction of 
the Sierra Club. Anyone have any more info about whats going on? I'm 
not a Sierra Club member so I can't really do anything to help (no job 
neither, so donating is out of the ?)

l8a
ncik

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Wes Boyd, MoveOn.org" <[email protected]>
> Date: March 18, 2004 6:43:01 PM EST
> To: "Nick Bonfatti" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Save the Sierra Club from Hostile Takeover
>
> Dear MoveOn member,
>
> Are you a Sierra Club member?
>
> The future of the Sierra Club is at stake.
>
> Outsiders are trying to take over the Club by placing stealth
> candidates on the Club's board ballot this year.  This is driven
> by anti-immigration activists, and their tactics are underhanded --
> they aren't declaring their real issue positions to members.
> They hope that low participation and confusion will allow them
> to stack the board of directors.
>
> You can stop this, but you must vote now in the Sierra Club board
> election.  You probably have already received the ballot in the mail.
>
> We've attached below an outreach from Groundswell Sierra -- a
> volunteer network of Sierra Club members working to defeat this
> threat.  This outreach includes a list of endorsed candidates.
> We recommending printing this email and having it on hand as you
> fill out your ballot.
>
> If you'd like more information on this threat, go to:
>
> http://www.groundswellsierra.org/takeover_index.php
>
> Thank you,
>
> -Carrie, Joan, Noah, Peter, and Wes
>  The MoveOn.org team
>  Tuesday, March 18th, 2004
>
> P.S.  You won't be hearing from the Sierra Club directly about
> this underhanded maneuver by anti-immigration activists.  Sierra Club
> staff cannot speak out about board elections.  It's up to us.
>
> You can review an article on this attempted takeover by former
> Sierra Club President, Adam Werbach, at:
>
>   Hostile Takeover
>   Anti-immigration coalition seeks control of Sierra Club
>   By Adam Werbach | 3.9.04
>   http://inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=644_0_2_0_M
>
>   Key excerpt:
>
>   "In 1998 the membership voted overwhelmingly to stay out of the
>   (immigration) issue, restating that the most effective way to deal
>   with the impact of population on the planet is to reduce levels
>   of American waste and to raise the global status of women."
>
> P.P.S.  You can vote on line, but only with your paper ballot
> in hand.  For more information:
>
>   http://www.groundswellsierra.org/vote.php
> ________________
>
> ACTION ALERT FROM GROUNDSWELL SIERRA:
>
>    The Sierra Club has been targeted for a hostile takeover by
> anti-immigration, animal rights and other groups who are running
> petition candidates with no Sierra Club experience for the Board
> of Directors. Don't take our word for it: The Los Angeles Times,
> Santa Fe New Mexican, Denver Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer
> have all warned that the threat is serious. That's why Groundswell
> Sierra - a diverse group of Sierra Club volunteers who are working
> to defend the Sierra Club - is asking you to support five Nominating
> Committee-recommended candidates who have over 75 years of
> collective experience as Sierra Club grassroots activists and will
> put their loyalty to the Sierra Club above their personal agendas:
>
> NICK AUMEN, Everglades restoration scientist and former
>         Sierra Club Treasurer and Vice President for Conservation.
>
>
> DAVE KARPF, Recent Director of Sierra Student Coalition,
>         and Chair of the Sierra Club's Training and national EPEC
>         field programs.
>
>
> JAN O'CONNELL, Sierra Club Treasurer, former Vice
>         President for Organizational Effectiveness, fundraiser in
>         the Sierra Club's beat-Bush effort.
>
>
> SANJAY RANCHOD, delegate to the U.N. Kyoto global
>         warming negotiations and Chair of the Sierra Club's
>         Sustainable Planet Strategy Team.
>
>
> LISA RENSTROM, leader of the Harvard project to
>         strengthen the Sierra Club's groups and chapters, former
>         Director, former Foundation Trustee, and former Chair of
>         the Sierra Club's fundraising efforts.
>
> Nick, Dave, Jan, Sanjay, and Lisa have brought experience and
> dedicated leadership to the Sierra Club. They have led our
> conservation priority campaigns, the Sierra Club's EPEC program,
> help strengthen the Sierra Club's financial health, run the Sierra
> Student Coalition, and represented the Sierra Club at UN conferences
> on the Kyoto accord on global warming. (For information on these
> candidates, go to our website, http://www.groundswellsierra.org )
>
>     At a time when the Sierra Club's own democratic process is being
> used against us, when our agenda and assets are targeted for takeover
> by outsiders, we are giving Nick, Dave, Jan, Sanjay, and Lisa our
> unqualified support. These are trusted leaders who have shown that
> they value the Club's mission and grassroots culture, and who believe
> only a united and strong Sierra Club can stop George Bush's assaults
> on our air, water, wild lands and wildlife.
>
>     Finally, we would be remiss if did not acknowledge the invaluable
> contributions former Board Directors Chad Hanson, Michael Dorsey
> and Ed Dobson have made to the Sierra Club's conservation work,
> and we wish them well in this election.
>
>     Please share this email with as many of your friends and other
> Sierra Club members as you can. Urge them to visit our website
> ( http://www.groundswellsierra.org ),
> and when their ballots arrive in early March, please VOTE!
>
>     There's a lot at stake. The following quotes explain why.
>
>     "We're only three directors away from controlling the board.
> And, once we get three more directors elected...[We'll] change the
> entire agenda of that organization."
>     -- Paul Watson, Sierra Club Director and animal rights activist
>        at the center of the take over effort.
>
>     "If they succeed. Our integrity, our credibility and our
> reputation will be severely damaged and we will be rendered less
> effective on all the issues our members care about."
>     -- Ross Vincent, long time Sierra Club activist.
>
>     "Fighting over immigration policy nearly destroyed the Sierra
> Club's effectiveness once; it cannot be allowed to happen again by
> electing people to the board whose purpose is to overthrow its
> established policies. We should not be battling each other when
> our main task must be to end the worst administration in the history
> of our nation."
>     -- Paul Ehrlich, Bing Professor of Population Studies,
>        Stanford University
>
>     "Sierra Club has an essential role and voice in the debate over
> the health of our environment. It is crucial that this voice and
> leadership are maintained and strengthened during these
> challenging times."
>     --Carol Browner, Chair of National Audubon Society, former
>        EPA Administrator, 1993-2001.
>
>     "Now more than ever we need a strong Sierra Club. With the
> Bush administration's assault on the environment, we need directors
> who care about its 112- year mission. Please support these five
> nominated candidates."
>     --Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Environmentalist and NRDC
>        Board Member
>
> Learn more: http://www.groundswellsierra.org
>
> ** PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO YOUR SIERRA CLUB MEMBER FRIENDS **
> By circulating this to your personal contacts, you can help support
> the Sierra Club's democratic culture against outsider takeover.
> Please don't spam; spam works against us.
>
> ________________
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