The national Sierra Club president and climate change activist Bill McKibben endorsed Democrat Sue Minter for governor in a press conference on Sunday.
Aaron Mair, the Sierra Club president, said in a press statement that if Minter is elected, Vermont will continue to lead the nation on climate change issues and environmental policies.
“Sue will be our national standard bearer in the fight against climate change,” Mair said. “Your policies, reflect your state’s natural and cultural priorities. And under Sue Minter’s leadership this priority will continue, and you will not only be a leader, amongst states you will continue to be a leader amongst the environmental movement.”
Phil Scott, the Republican candidate for governor, does not understand the impact climate change will have on people and the environment, Mair said.
“Based on what he has said and done, your lieutenant governor claims he doesn’t understand the urgency of climate change,” Mair said. “Phil Scott has repeatedly denied that climate change is man-made.”
Mair said Scott has used “the classical national Republican line of ‘I am not a scientist.'”
“This is a line that has been used by the likes of Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Joni Ernst, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz,” Mair added. “Now you can see why the Koch brothers support him.”
McKibben also tied the Koch brothers and big oil to the Scott campaign. The Republican Governors Association has run $1.8 million worth of advertising for Scott. The RGA has accepted money from the Koch brothers, philanthropists who are in the oil and gas business.
“The most prominent people in Vermont this month are not Ben & Jerry, they are Charles and David Koch,” McKibben said. “They are pouring money in by the bucketful into this election. It’s time for Vermonters to say, we don’t need the Koch Brothers deeply involved in our political life. We are faced with a real challenge, Sue Minter is capable of standing up to that challenge.”
