Fox Valley Sierra Group Election 2004

A letter on November 3 from Carl Pope

Dear Sierra Club staff and volunteers,

  I want to express my enormous admiration and pride, mixed with tears, at
what you gave and did for the past two years.  We set out to tell the story
of how the Bush Administration was leaving American communities at risk,
and we told it in the face of an enormous campaign of disinformation and
Orwellian language, and under the constraint of a media focused on the war
in Iran, we told that story.  We set out to identify, inform, motivate and
bring out to the polls new environmental voters in eleven cities, and even
though we had never attempted this before, we did it with a skill and grace
that simply stun me.  In city after city as I travelled around I heard
stories about volunteers refusing to stop phone banking when the shift was
over because they wanted to complete their list.  Folks who had worked both
with the Sierra Club and with other voter contact programs were fulsome in
their praise of our volunteers and staff, their kindness and organization,
and how smoothly things went and how well their time was used.

   We did our part.  There were millions of new voters, including millions
of young voters. (John Kerry overwhelmingly earned their votes.)  By the
end of the day on  Tuesday in city after city, we had turned out almost all
of our previously irregular environmental voters.  Folks had heard from us,
if anything, too often.  Everywhere I went I met Sierra Club volunteers
from other states who had travelled to make their contribution.  Our staff
were wonderful, superb, generous, more than anyone could have expected.

    It was not enough.  We will need some time to figure out what where we
go from here, how we can hold the new Congress and the re-election
Administration accountable, how we can protect our basic right to
environmental advocacy for the next two years, which will be very
challenging years.  But the spirit, the energy, the dedication and the
challenge that we demonstrated for the last two years will carry us through
this dark period, and the American people remain, today, as they were
yesterday, committed to a brighter environmental future for their children.

   Meanwhile, many of you need to rest and heal.  You have given the last
full measure -- now turn your hearts and souls to you friends and families.
The time for Teddy Roosevelt's battle in the  arena will return, and your
energy will be needed.  Be proud of what you did.  Mourn that it was not
enough.  Love each other.

~Carl Pope

Carl Pope has been Executive Director of the Sierra Club since 1992.

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