Virginia: the blueprint for an enviro assault on Alabama

Environmentalists spent millions upon millions of dollars in a “shadow campaign” to buy the Virginia gubernatorial election, according to a stunning new report by POLITICO.

“Tom Steyer is Virginia’s $8 million man,” the story says of the billionaire leftwing environmentalist.

That’s how much Steyer spent to elect a global warming alarmist to the Virginia governor’s office and to create a model for electing fellow environmentalists to high offices around the United States, including governors, U.S. senators, and even the next U.S. president.

And Steyer wasn’t alone.

Nationally-known environmental groups like Conservation Voters PAC and the Sierra Club spent big bucks to attack Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli for his free-market stance on American energy.

Here are 4 key excerpts from the POLITICO article that is sending shockwaves through the conservative community:

1. Steyer’s Virginia campaign represents a down payment on a sustained effort to defeat Republicans who question climate science — and activate voters who want government action on climate change.

2. From the start, Steyer’s campaign had two stated goals: electing Democrat Terry McAuliffe as the governor of Virginia, and creating a case study for making climate change an issue in high-profile elections.

3. In a memo distributed to potential financial supporters late in the summer, Steyer’s top strategist, former Clinton White House aide Chris Lehane, said NextGen will build on its Virginia campaign by targeting multiple Senate and gubernatorial races in 2014 – and then playing hard in the 2016 presidential primaries.

4. The Steyer operation wasn’t the only environmentalist outfit that played heavily in Virginia: The Virginia League of Conservation Voters PAC and the Sierra Club both invested money and manpower.

This is exactly why Alabamians must be vigilant and head off our state’s growing environmentalist movement before it gains steam. Groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center, Alabama Environmental Council and the AARP are sinking untold amounts of money into a Steyer-like campaign to influence public opinion in Alabama and elect global warming fanatics to public office.

The Alabama Public Service Commission may be where the environmentalists have focused their attention to this point, but if their efforts in Virginia are any indication, they will soon be aiming at offices around the state.

And remember, the environmentalists’ goals are the same as every other big-government liberal — more stringent government rules and regulations, more government control of the free market system, and less freedom for you and me.

Paul Reynolds is the founder and chairman of the Alabama Free Market Alliance. He is in his second term serving as Alabama’s National Committeeman for the Republican National Committee, and is the founder and president of Reynolds Technical Associates, a broadcast engineering consulting firm in Pelham, Alabama.