Chabot’s defeat a victory for Dirty Dozen program

WASHINGTON – League of Conservation Voters (LCV) President Gene Karpinski congratulates Pete Aguilar on his victory in California’s 31st Congressional district. LCV Victory Fund along with the Latino Victory Project ran a get out the vote program targeting 20,000 households with likely Aguilar supporters, and LCV named his opponent, Paul Chabot, to the Dirty Dozen.  Additionally, LCV Action Fund endorsed Aguilar and raised or contributed over $32,000 to his campaign through its GiveGreen program. LCV Victory Fund also assisted Aguilar with his primary race to qualify him for the fall ballot.

“Pete Aguilar’s victory is a significant win for the environment and the people of California.  As Mayor, he fought to reduce the pollution driving climate change and increase energy efficiency in the city of Redlands. His leadership is a welcome addition to Congress and we look forward to working with him to tackle climate change head on,” said Karpinski.

Chabot’s defeat is a significant victory for LCV’s Dirty Dozen program. In October, LCV named Chabot to its 2014 Dirty Dozen list, which targets candidates—regardless of party affiliation—who consistently side against the environment and are running in races in which LCV has a serious chance to affect the outcome. 

To assist Aguilar’s June primary election campaign against former Rep. Joe Baca, the League of Conservation Voters and the California League of Conservation Voters sent mailers to more than 25,000 households in the district. The mail highlighted that Baca voted to put drinking water at risk and weaken the Clean Water Act.    

LCV, LCV Victory Fund, and state LCVs have spent nearly $30 million this cycle, close to a six-fold increase from the 2010 midterms and by far the most that LCV has ever spent.   Beyond our independent expenditure work, LCV Action Fund, with the support of NRDC Action Fund PAC, has raised or contributed nearly $6 million for federal and state candidates through the GiveGreen program this election cycle. This represents the most money ever raised through GiveGreen during a single election cycle and is more than two and half times the amount raised in the 2012 cycle.

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