Council Member Phil Mendelson got some help in his tough re-election battle Wednesday as he accepted endorsements from two key environmental groups.
The DC Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth both announced they would throw their support to Mendelson, the two-term at-large council member, in his Democratic primary campaign against lawyer A. Scott Bolden. The organizations, with a combined 6,000 District members, have endorsed Mendelson before.
“They say something about my record,” Mendelson said during a brief press conference outside the Wilson Building. “They also say something about a vision for the city.”
Jim Dougherty, a Sierra Club board member, said Mendelson has been a “champion of the environment” for more than 20 years and understands that environmental health is tied to quality of life. Dougherty is hosting a Mendelson fundraiser Sunday.
Mendelson said Bolden backed the repeal of the D.C. Environmental Policy Act, supported construction of the Children’s Island Theme Park and represented a trash transfer operator — making him no friend of the environment.
Bolden denied supporting the theme park, said he wanted to “streamline” the environmental regulations and acknowledged representing a transfer station operator’s right to exist. In any case, he said, the groups did not interview him or bother to seek his current positions and therefore their endorsements are not credible.
For more information
» www.reelectphil2006.com
» www.bolden2006.com
» www.dc.sierraclub.org
» www.foeaction.org
