O’Connor Slipping on Environment Issues, Group Says

Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s environmental record has plummeted since 1988, pulling her from a spot as the City Council’s leading environmentalist to the middle of the pack, the Sierra Club announced Monday.

“Her environmental score declined from 97% in 1987-88 to 83% in 1989 and slid even further to 64% in 1990,” the club’s analysis of council voting records in 1989-90 says.

“This slide is a disappointing trend, as O’Connor seems to be an important swing vote on upcoming issues ranging from protection of Mission Trails Park to the passage of a strong Resource Protection Ordinance,” said Barbara Bamberger, conservation coordinator for the club.

Those measures involve the possible extension of Jackson Drive through the park and a land-use package to protect areas such as wetlands and canyons.

O’Connor’s press secretary, Paul Downey, suggested that O’Connor’s fall in the ratings may have been because issues were picked “to make other members of the council look good,” particularly Linda Bernhardt. She faces a recall effort aimed at her environmental record, but is supported by the Sierra Club.

Council votes analyzed by the club included two votes on housing for the poor and a vote in which the mayor voted for a higher level of sewage treatment than the club has endorsed.

“You have to question some of the votes that they chose,” Downey said. “The only thing I can figure is it helps certain members of the City Council look better.”

Bamberger said the issues were chosen independently from the voting analysis, and the choices were based on the Sierra Club’s identification of national and local issues of importance.

Bernhardt led the club’s ratings, earning her membership in a so-called “Environmental Four” on the current council. Newcomers Bernhardt and John Hartley joined Bob Filner and Abbe Wolfsheimer to form that top-rated group.

Their percentage ratings on 66 key votes on issues such as growth, land use, sewage problems and recycling were Bernhardt, 85%; Hartley and Filner, 84%; and Wolfsheimer, 79%. Bernhardt and Hartley were on the council for only 33 of those votes.

Wolfsheimer’s rating would have been higher, but she was downgraded for missing 24% of the key environmental votes over the 18-month survey period, which ended in August.

In the middle group, which the Sierra Club expects to cast swing votes on environmental issues over the next few months, were O’Connor and Ron Roberts, both at a 70% rating; and Wes Pratt, at 66%, the analysis concluded.

At the bottom of the list were Judy McCarty and Bruce Henderson, rated at 59%. They also were in the so-called “Bulldozer Brigade” in 1987-88, along with Ed Struiksma, whom Bernhardt replaced a year ago.

Council members reacted predictably to the Sierra Club ratings--gratefully in the case of endorsements, and dismissively in the case of lower ratings.

“I consider the Sierra Club leadership to be a political organization, not an environmental organization,” McCarty said. “They’re defending Linda, and they’re coming after me, Bruce and Ron. What else is new?”

Wolfsheimer said she was pleased at her rating, but puzzled by being downgraded for absences on key votes.

“What can I say? I don’t know anything about it,” she said. “I can’t remember any key environmental votes that I missed.”

Bernhardt said she hoped being at the top of the Sierra Club list would show voters “the facts” about the recall effort against her, said to have been launched because of her anti-environment activities.

Her supporters have charged that the campaign is orchestrated by Struiksma’s backers and developers because of Bernhardt’s strong environmental stance.

Times staff writer Leonard Bernstein contributed to this story.