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2008 Election Candidate Forum:
The Candidates
Jerry Sutherland's responses to the 16 questions of the candidate forum:
Candidate responses were limited to 150 words per question.
1: What leadership positions have you held in the Sierra Club and what have you accomplished in those positions?
On the Oregon Chapter High Desert Committee (1996 - Present) I helped in the successful campaign to protect Steens Mountain in 2000, served as Vice-Chair of the Steens Mountain Advisory Council (2001-2006), and established key relationships with political and agency staff that enhanced my other chapter roles of Off-Road Vehicle Issue Coordinator (2003 - 2006), Executive Committee member (2003 - Present), and Vice-Chair (2007).
As Corresponding Member of the Recreation Issues Committee (2001-2004) I wrote official comments to agencies on off-road travel. I helped all Wild Planet Strategy Team (2002-2005) committees increase effectiveness, using Club resources and developing new ones such as networks with local activists, especially while serving as Chair and Budget Manager (2004-2005).
On the Conservation Governance Committee (2005-Present) I led reorganization of national priority work, represented them on the Electronic Communications and Capacity-Building Task Forces (2006), and served as Secretary (2006) and Budget Manager (2007).
2: What, if any, endorsements have you received from Club chapters or leaders?
20 of the 26 chapters that have endorsed candidates selected me. They are Missouri, San Diego (CA), Tehipite (CA), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mother Lode (CA), San Francisco (CA), Santa Lucia (CA), North Star (Minnesota), Oregon, Angeles (CA), Tennessee, Florida, John Muir (Wisconsin), Loma Prieta (CA), Redwood (CA), Iowa, West Virginia, and Maine. These elected leaders represent approximately 340,000 Sierra Club members.
Personal endorsements include: former Executive Director Mike McCloskey; former Presidents Larry Fahn, Michelle Perrault, and Joe Fontaine; former Presidents and current Directors Lisa Renstrom and Jennifer Ferenstein; current Directors Jim Catlin, Bernie Zaleha, and Jim Dougherty; and 50 additional Club leaders who helped me gather 735 signatures in 47 different chapters to qualify for this ballot as a petition candidate.
3: The Board of Directors has appointed the Organizational Change Steering Committee to come up with recommendations for making changes to the organizational structure of the Club. The OCSC has come up with a draft proposal called Project Renewal which will be acted on at the February Board meeting. Please present your thoughts on Project Renewal and, in particular, whether you, given the opportunity, would vote in favor of the OCSC's current recommendations.
I would vote against the December 3, 2007 OCSC draft proposal. New versions might change my mind but I started raising concerns about the direction of Project Renewal at the August 2007 GovCom Assembly when the presentation by LaPiana denigrated our breadth of issues and democratic processes. These are the very principles that motivate thousands of volunteers to give hours each week carrying out the mission of the Sierra Club. In web terminology, the Sierra Club gets thousands of “hits” each day with the American public, media, and government officials because of this army of volunteers. This is the basis of grassroots power, notoriety, and influence that is the envy of our friends and enemies alike. I don’t want the Sierra Club to exchange this power for the speed that seems to be driving Project Renewal. Extensive comments on specific aspects can be found in the online Project Renewal Forum.
4: What special abilities would you bring to Sierra Club leadership?
I am the only candidate from the Pacific Northwest, an important region of the country that is not represented on the Board. I am familiar with both the national and local level of Club work and understand what makes them work best. My Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and background in technical sales help me work effectively with fellow leaders and staff. I know how to campaign, as evidenced by earning a spot on this year's ballot by gathering over 700 signatures. Petition candidacy is a time-honored, grassroots approach that Jennifer Ferenstein (past President; current director) and Jan O'Connell (past Vice President) both used in their first successful elections. I dive into new challenges with vigor. Finally, my Associates Degree in Business Administration gives me an advantage in working with complex Club finances.
5: What do you view as the most important responsibilities of a Sierra Club Director?
Leadership, fiduciary responsibility, and grass roots empowerment are the Board's greatest responsibilities. Directors must be willing to lead by example. They set the tone for everyone else. The Board cannot continue authorizing multi-million dollar net deficits. I hope the new Climate Recovery Campaign will be successful but the Board should look to see if there are underlying causes of the drop in funding of current campaigns and address any found. New content won't solve process issues. Increased personal involvement by Directors in fundraising efforts may help. We need to engage more of our members who are not active. The Harvard Project showed only 2% participate currently. Directors can help by taking every opportunity to remind activists that their work is appreciated and by continuing to sponsor chapter level training such as the new Leadership Development Project.
6: Having prioritized energy and climate work with the Smart Energy Solutions conservation initiative, what do you see as the most important things that the Sierra Club must do to respond to the urgent threat of climate change and win victories on this issue in the coming years?
The Board established three Conservation Initiatives in 2005; the other two - Safe and Healthy Communities and America's Wild Legacy - address threats to health and habitat beyond global warming. All three play important roles in slowing global warming and dealing with its inevitable effects: Smart Energy Solutions primarily with the causes; America's Wild Legacy and Safe Healthy Communities primarily with the effects. The Conservation Governance Committee funded global warming projects like Cool Cities to help chapters begin local work. We also supported the Finance Governance Committee's reallocation of $500,000 to increase global warming focus in 2007. I applaud the Board's initiation of a Climate Recovery Campaign to raise additional funds for all three Conservation Initiatives' work related to global warming. The success of this campaign will assure that increased focus in this area does not diminish efforts addressing other threats to our web of life.
7: Many people feel that the environment is not an important factor in deciding federal elections. Why do you think this is, and what strategies should the Club pursue for electing pro-environment candidates to office?
We need to make it personal for voters by connecting the quality of the air they breathe and water they drink, continued enjoyment of open spaces, and welfare of wildlife to specific candidates. We showed in our 2006 election campaigns that the public is interested and concerned about their environment if we bring it home to them. Increased press coverage on global warming is helping to raise interest in all environmental issues. I think Directors can help carry this momentum into 2008 by working with media, direct involvement in campaigns, and recruiting members. We need to get new campaign techniques ready for use that allow Club members to make calls from across the country to supplement local phone banks. I made calls in the campaign to oust Richard Pombo and recruited others to do the same across the nation. There were a few obstacles, but it was effective.
8: The environment is sometimes an important factor in deciding local and state elections. What strategies should the club pursue for electing pro-environment candidates to local and state offices?
Since local and state issues are experienced by voters first hand voters are more aware of them, substantiating my answer to question 6. In recent years, the Political Committee has directed substantial resources to key local and state races and should continue to do so. We also need to provide more tools such as messaging and talking points that all activists can use when speaking with friends, family, neighbors, and associates - including guidance on how to set up house parties. It's important to remember that having earned a "seat at the table" isn't enough. Follow-through on implementation of pro-environment agendas is critical. And we can't give up if our candidate doesn't win. Many landmark environmental laws were passed in unfriendly Congresses and signed by unfriendly Presidents because they felt sufficient pressure from their constituents. Grassroots campaigning by the Club creates that pressure.
9: What do you feel is the image of environmentalists in general and of the Sierra Club in particular, and how would you change or reinforce that image?
Our Communications Department set up focus groups in 2006 to help Conservation Initiative messaging. They reported hearing environmentalists referred to as "extremists and scolders who tell other people what they should not do." They also found that the public is "hungry for a more positive, solutions-oriented message" and wants to see "opposing camps come together" rather than "language that appears to dictate and close off options." The good news, according to Bob Perkowitz, when presenting the American Environmental Value Survey to the Conservation Governance Committee later that year, was that the Sierra Club has a positive image with the public, giving us a wonderful opportunity to engage our neighbors, friends, associates, and family. One of the ways we can do this is couple positive messaging and public relations campaigns with lawsuits. Another is to find partnerships and areas of agreement wherever we can while defending what we value.
10: What do you see as the role of outings in the Club, both National outings (including international) and those organized by chapters and groups? What changes would you like to see in these programs?
I had no intention of becoming an environmental activist prior to an Oregon Chapter High Desert Committee backpack trip in 1996. They saw my passion for the Pueblo Mountains and slowly but surely directed it to Sierra Club efforts. At the Summit those at my table shared similar stories. Going back to John Muir himself, outings have always been a great generator of activism within the Club. We can do more to improve communication between national outings leaders and local activists working to protect the places trips are held and to bring more conservation work directly into outings. International outings can do more to bring home the message that the Earth's biosphere is a habitat shared by all living creatures, and that all its citizens share in the responsibility to protect this web of life on behalf of current and future generations.
11: The Club is structured with a Board of Directors, governance committees, Council of Club Leaders, chapters, groups, and sections as the prominent entities. If you could change this structure or how it functions, how would you change it?
Sierra Club governance is complicated and frustrating to those not familiar with it. Internal communication has been an impediment though improvements are being made. Some national programs operate next to each other and chapters without interacting. We must simplify and integrate whenever possible. But we must also understand that covering a great breadth of issues, and operating in egalitarian ways, is the basis of our power, and we must accept that this will inevitably be messier than operating as a hierarchical for-profit corporation. Project Renewal was initiated for good reasons, but complete annihilation of all existing national structure to experiment with new ideas threatens chaos at a time when we need to be working together. Every year it seems some new initiative distracts us. Let’s improve what we’ve got as best we can and get on with our work.
12: What, if any, are the key differences between 21st century grassroots organizing and 20th century grassroots organizing, and how might the Sierra Club change in response?
Digital communications is the greatest change in the 21st century. Many grassroots activists, especially younger ones, prefer using it. But we should not abandon face-to-face social interaction. We need to add new tools without eliminating the ones we have in order to offer whichever works best for each individual. The Club moved towards mass media for a while but has wisely returned to reaching out to individuals with campaigns such as Building Environmental Community. The American Environmental Value Survey concludes that "a one-size-fits-all approach won't work" and that we need to "engage specific audiences on the issues that are most likely to resonate with them." The people we know best are our friends, neighbors, associates, relatives, and owners of businesses we frequent. We each need to bring the environment into our communities and show them how the Club is working on their behalf.
13: What new technologies, and what new organizational processes should the Club adopt to improve the connection between National operations and grassroots leadership?
The Electronic Communications Task Force I served on in 2006 came up with a comprehensive list of recommendations regarding this. This is an area in which I think the Club has come a long way. I fear going into details will be wonky and boring to most members but I’ll summarize. Clubhouse has been reworked to be more dynamic and user-friendly with docents like myself to help folks out. HELEN and Convio rollouts to chapters are proceeding. Project Renewal has attracted attention to our Clubhouse Forum pages. Grassroots Scrapbook, Faces, and Stories pages are making the best of the elimination of the Planet by showing a lot more of the work we do. There is more we can do to facilitate web-based social networking while not abandoning those who prefer print media.
14: What are some measures the Club should take to improve leadership development? What other grassroots capacity-building actions, if any, would you recommend?
Members become activists because of personal support and one-on-one mentoring at the chapter level. Chapter leaders need training and recognition, as well as the empowerment that comes from a high level of self-determination granted by the Board. The Organizational Effectiveness and Training Governance Committees have combined to initiate the Leadership Development Project in three chapters, with the goal of enhancing leadership skills and building more active, effective and sustainable chapters and groups. I hope this will be a successful effort that can grow to other chapters. The Board approved recommendations from the Electronic Communication and Capacity-Building Task Forces I participated in last year, some of which have been implemented, such as the new database system called HELEN. More needs to be implemented, such as facilitation of networking between local and national activists.
15: The Sierra Club has limited resources. Where is it most important for the Club to focus its volunteer and financial resources over the next four years?
Sierra Club strength comes from its volunteer base working at the chapter and group level. We have grown to become the most powerful grassroots organization in the world by providing the big tent, offering tools and resources everyone can use to carry out the work that motivated them to become active. The Board must continue to turn aside suggestions to make chapter funding dependent on performance relative to blueprints established at the national level. Each chapter faces different challenges and needs the fiscal discretion to deal with them. Chapter subvention should be maintained. Doing otherwise will diminish our base rather than continuing its expansion. Discretionary national resources should continue to be directed towards projects implementing the Club's Conservation Initiatives with choices based on merit and solutions that will work.
16: The club is undertaking work to bring more youth and diverse cultures into our membership and leadership. What specific strategies would you suggest?
The Sierra Club must assure that all who share our goals feel welcome and energized by affiliation with us. Leaders and staff who represent minority demographic groups need to be forthright in pointing out anything that compromises this. Our Diversity Council and Youth Integration Committee were set up to achieve this. However, in pursuing this goal we must be careful not to fall into the trap (as a local Sierra Student Coalition leader reminded me recently) of thinking that all members of any one group have the same preferences. We could go a long way towards diversification with the integration of national programs like Inner City Outings and Sierra Student Coalition with local chapters and groups. With local leaders mentoring these young people they will become our next generation of leaders.
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