Middletown's Legislative Delegation Has Mixed Record On Environmental Protection

The bipartisan Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV) released its annual scorecard of legislative votes. One of our State Representatives, Democrat Matt Lesser, and one of our State Senators, Republican Len Suzio, voted on all environmentally important legislation and received a perfect score from the environment watchdog.

The CTLCV scored legislators' votes on 12 bills in the 2011 session. Some of these votes were in committees, so not all legislators voted on all of those bills. The full report of the CTLCV is available HERE.

Overall, the CTLV concludes that state lawmakers got caught up in the effort to weaken environmental protections that swept the nation this year. However, there were 38 lawmakers with perfect scores, and they led the effort for environmental protection. CTLV Co-Chair David Bingham said:

Connecticut’s core group of legislators who understand the necessity of a healthy environment to sustain a healthy economy were sorely tested this year. Despite the pressures of economic distress, they upheld policies that are critical to providing clean air and water and make Connecticut an inviting state to do business. But holding the line is insufficient. There is much still to do, much still at risk.

Here is how members of our city's delegation were scored:

Paul Doyle (D, Senate 9th) 83%
Doyle voted on all 6 of the scored bills which he was able to vote on. One of his votes was not considered the environmentally responsible one: he voted in favor of the Haddam land swap, which passed.

Len Suzio (R, Senate 13th) 100%
Suzio voted on all 5 of the scored bills which he was able to vote on.

Joe Serra (D, House 33rd) 71%
Serra voted on all 7 of the scored bills which he was able to vote on. On 2 of those, his vote was not considered the environmentally responsible one. He voted in favor of the Haddam Land swap, which passed. He also voted in favor of a bill which would have mandated ATV trails on State Land without providing any money to care for them, this bill did not pass.

Matt Lesser (D, House 100th) 100%
Lesser voted on all 6 of the scored bills which he was able to vote on.

Gail Hamm (D, House 34th) 100%
Hamm did not vote much on environmentally important issues, casting a vote on only 1 of the scored bills she was able to vote on.

Christie Carpino (R, House 32nd) 67%
Carpino voted on all 6 of the scored bills which she was able to vote on. She voted against a bill banning BPA in thermal paper receipts, which passed. She also voted in favor of the Haddam land swap.