Membership: A partnership for Montana's conservation majority

Dear Montana Voter,

Do you care about how your legislators are voting in Helena on bills to protect our hunting and fishing heritage and access to public lands?

Do you want to know if your legislators are standing up for clean air, clean water and renewable energy – or whether they have been voting with monied special interests that exploit our natural resources and leave taxpayers to clean up the mess?

Does it matter whether your legislators and Congress people are fighting for renewable, affordable energy for Montanans, instead of big breaks for the major oil companies?

Are you wondering whether the promises you heard last fall about balanced development are resulting in improvements, or rollbacks, of Montana’s cornerstone environmental laws?

If your answer to these questions is YES, then consider joining Montana Conservation Voters’ to find out how your legislators are voting.  

Montana Conservation Voters (MCV) is the non-partisan political voice of this state’s conservation and environmental community. 

MCV shines a spotlight on the votes and actions of elected officials, so that voters know whether they are living up to their campaign promises, or casting votes to benefit corporate polluters.

Through our political action arm, Montana Conservation Voters helps elect candidates - from City Hall to Congress - who stand up for conservation principles.  We help elect policy makers so that partner groups can advocate and pass good policy.  

We are asking for your help so that Montana Conservation Voters can continue to work politically to ensure that our elected representatives stand up for safe, healthy air and water, responsible planning as our communities grow, and affordable, renewable energy - produced in a way that helps Montana families, communities and the environment.  

Many voters in Montana and across the nation were energized by the November 2006 election results.  New Congressional members open the door to policies that increase access to affordable, renewable energy, and to protect our rivers and lakes. It may now be possible to confront global warming pollution, instead of denying it exists.  The new face of Congress should also help stop bills like the Energy Policy Act of 2005, written behind closed doors by Vice President Cheney and his industry cronies, in their tracks.

But special interests like energy companies, the mining and timber industries still hold power in Washington and in Helena. Consider this. The President AGAIN wants to sell off public land to the highest bidder, lands that Montanans treasure for hunting, hiking, and family recreation.  And in Helena, legislators have killed proposals to ensure reclamation and water protection in the face of expanded coal mining and coal bed methane development.

MCV needs your help to mobilize grassroots power in the face of these odds.

And MCV needs your support to help us continue to get results in the ballot box.  In the November election, MCV’s grassroots political organizing helped propel U.S. Senator Jon Tester to victory. MCV’s door-to-door program contacted voters in over 16,000 homes in Billings, Kalispell, Columbia falls, Bozeman, Livingston, East Helena, Missoula, and Lolo.  MCV contrasted candidates’ positions on energy policy, clean air and water, and access to public lands for hunting and fishing so voters could sort the facts from the campaign rhetoric.

MCV worked to recruit and elect conservation champions to the legislature. And we helped defeat incumbents with poor records, including a legislator with a 9% career voting record.  Working with other groups, MCV helped stop the I-154 “takings” initiative, backed by out-of-state developers, and the 2004 repeal of the cyanide mine ban.  And MCV supports the election of conservation-minded city and county commissioners.  

But these results don’t amount to much unless local, legislative, statewide and Congressional decision makers stand up for the our conservation values.

Montana Conservation Voters works politically to make sure that the legislature and our Congressional delegation make the right choices to protect our air and water quality, promote conservation and renewable energy like biofuels and wind energy, and prevent destruction of cherished places like the Rocky Mountain Front, the Gallatin River, Whitefish Lake and the Tongue River Valley.

We need your help to do this.  The best way to help is to become an MCV member, to build a more powerful political force for the environment.

Membership is $25 for an individual or $35 for a household - and allows you to have a stake in building Montana's conservation majority at all levels of politics. 

Members receive our Legislative Hot List e-newsletter, timely election-year Voter Guides, MCV’s popular Legislative Scorecard, a voice and a vote at Montana Conservation Voters’ meetings, and MCV Education Fund publications like Congressional Watch and Focus on State Lands.  

More importantly, membership in Montana Conservation Voters ensures that you are part of the growing movement of Montanans, working politically to protect the environment.  

Please join MCV today.

Help change the face of politics on behalf of Montana’s outdoor heritage.

Sincerely,

Theresa M. Keaveny, Executive Director