Reading Jonathan Martin’s excellent profile of Minnesota GOP Governor Tim Pawlenty in The Politico last week, I came across the following quote:
It’s on the environment and on fiscal issues where Pawlenty draws fire from the right. “He’s a little too green,” says Phil Krinkie, a former Republican state legislator who now heads the conservative Taxpayers League of Minnesota. Along with many other governors, Pawlenty has seized on the issue of global warming and has used much of his second term to promote energy conservation with a goal of producing 25 percent of the state’s electricity by renewable sources by 2025.
A little too green? That’s supposed to be a criticism? Working towards environmental solutions is a good thing, and something that more Republican officials should be working towards. And not just to attract independent voters - as our research has continually shown, Republican voters care about environmental issues, too. And it’s not as if Governor Pawlenty is a radical environmentalist. In fact, he’s said that his plan has the backing of many utilities in his state, and he views them as important partners in his efforts.
If the most conservative activists want to criticize green Governors like Pawlenty, that’s certainly their right. But this sort of rhetoric is short-sighted politically and wrong-headed environmentally. I wish the Governor luck in his efforts.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Politics/Government . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
