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By Cat Lazaroff
Environmental News Service
A draft of the Republican platform reveals that the party is loosening its stance on some controversial topics, including the environment, but not by very much. The platform continues to promote cooperation with the private sector and state regulation of environmental rules, but also proposes that the federal government take a larger role in setting environmental policy than past platforms have advised. "Government does have a role to play, but as a partner, not a rival, to the armies of compassion," the draft states. "Compassionate conservatism" is the theme of the draft, which will be reviewed and voted upon by the 107 member platform committee over the next two days. The full convention will debate the final draft on Monday. "We want to be uplifting," Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, chairman of the platform committee, said Thursday on CNN. "We want to be visionary and progressive." The environmental section of the platform celebrates the advances of recent decades, including improved air and water quality and restored wetlands, and scales back past criticisms of the Endangered Species Act. The draft proposes tax breaks for residential use of solar power. But on topics sure to draw fire from environmentalists, the platform also supports allowing oil exploration and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. The draft promotes globalization through the opening of new markets overseas, and supports broad tax cuts that are heavily dependent on a budget surplus that Democrats have repeatedly warned may not materialize. Taking aim at clean air and alternative transportation initiatives supported by Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore, the draft says that a Republican president would reduce toxic air emissions in less drastic fashion, without "forcing Americans to walk to work." "In recent years, America seemed to move away from some of the qualities that make her great, but we are now relearning some important lessons," the draft reads. "We're coming to understand that a good and civil society cannot be packaged into government programs but must originate in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in the private institutions that bring us together." The draft platform retains the party’s traditional conservatism, to the delight of the American Conservative Union. "The good news is the draft GOP Platform is about 80 percent conservative," said Donald Devine, chairman of the 2000 Committee for a Conservative Platform and a vice chairman of the American Conservative Union. "It is clear that the delegates to this year's nominating convention are more conservative than ever and they are developing a conservative platform. In every area - abortion, education, foreign policy involvement, the environment, affirmative action, free trade, gun rights and charitable tax credits - the support among delegates for conservative issues is overwhelming," said Devine.
In a Lincoln Day speech to his fellow New York Republicans in 1999, Roosevelt noted, " ... a well-trained, well-educated populace and a thriving, intact natural environment are the lynchpins, the very foundation, of a healthy economy in the future." "Teddy Roosevelt IV is going to do a great job communicating the importance of sound conservation principles and how Governor George W. Bush will build on his already-strong environmental record," said Andy Card, general co-chairman of the 2000 Republican National Convention. Anne Callison, Colorado director of Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) said her group offered for months to help the party craft some greener planks for its environmental platform, but were repeatedly rebuffed. The group has also been unsuccessful in making positive contact with the campaign offices of Texas Governor George Bush, the presumptive Republican nominee for President. "We’re waiting for a meeting with [Bush], but frankly, I think its not going to happen," said Callison. Environmental activists from around the country will be gathering in Philadelphia to tell the Republicans what they think about the party’s policies. Various groups are planning marches, both legal and illegal, civil disobedience and direct actions. The Sierra Club will be running a television ad in the Philadelphia area throughout the convention featuring Texas Republicans asking Governor Bush to improve the state’s air quality. "I'm a registered Republican. I actively campaigned for Governor Bush's father and I'm really disappointed in our air quality here in Houston, Texas," says suburban Houston resident Diane Kemetz in the ad. The ad features three women from suburban Houston - two Republicans and a registered Independent - who asked Bush to oppose a proposed chemical plant that would add more toxins to the region’s heavily polluted air. "We asked Governor Bush to help us back in April and he has refused to do so," says Tamara Maschino in the ad. On Sunday and Monday, "Billionaires for Bush (or Gore)," a mass media stunt, will focus national attention on the influence of big business and campaign donations on electoral politics. On Sunday, a large legal march will gather environmental, labor, women’s rights and other activists to an all day rally in downtown Philadelphia. |
Republican presidential candidate Gov. George W. Bush 
The current Republican leadership appears not to have the same committment to the environment as former President Theodore Roosevelt, also a member of the GOP 
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