Sierra Club under fire in immigration debate

Kristen Gelineau:

A Sierra Club member staged a small protest Monday calling for the resignation of the environmental group's executive director, accusing him of accepting money from a donor in exchange for halting the group's discussion of immigration policy.

James McDonald, a 60-year-old Springfield attorney, said Carl Pope accepted more than $100 million from California donor David Gelbaum in 2001 only after promising Gelbaum the club would stay out of the immigration debate. Pope and leaders of the venerable conservation group called McDonald's allegations ridiculous.

A faction within the San Francisco-based Sierra Club has long urged a stronger stance against immigration, arguing that the growing U.S. population is putting an enormous strain on natural resources. But the Sierra Club's members have twice voted to remain neutral in the immigration debate.

McDonald and a friend, who identified himself only as a "retired immigration officer," staged the protest outside the Science Museum of Virginia, where Pope delivered a speech to around 200 club members on an unrelated topic.

Like most of the club's members calling for immigration control, McDonald insists he has nothing against immigrants, adding that his wife is from the Philippines. But eliminating all discussion of the topic is unfair to both the group's members and the environment, he said.

"You have to talk about the subject - you can't just say, 'We're not going to discuss it,'" he said, holding a sign that read, in part: "Carl Pope sold out the Sierra Club and America for $100 million."

Glen Besa, director of the group's Appalachian region, called McDonald's allegations "absurd."

"Our members overwhelmingly rejected a change to our policy, so any allegations of wrongdoing here with regard to that policy are just totally unjustified," Besa said.

Gelbaum, the donor, was quoted last year by The Los Angeles Times as saying: "I did tell Carl Pope in 1994 or 1995 that if they ever came out anti-immigration, they would never get a dollar from me."

Pope acknowledged that Gelbaum did make clear his position on the issue, but said it had nothing to do with the club's decision to stay out of the debate.

"I personally, and subsequently the membership of the Sierra Club, voted that we would remain neutral on immigration, years before Mr. Gelbaum made those large gifts," Pope said. "It is true that Mr. Gelbaum said that if we had taken the opposite position, he would not have given us the gifts, but we had already taken that position."

Most of those attending Pope's speech seemed puzzled by the protest, and few had strong opinions either way on the immigration debate. But a handful applauded McDonald's efforts.

"That's right," Greg Moser, 58, of Richmond, said, gesturing toward McDonald's sign. "They don't want to deal with difficult issues."

Founded by Scottish immigrant John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is the country's oldest and largest environmental group and has traditionally advocated for clean air and water and protection of wildlands and wildlife.

Hat tip, Limitstogrowth!

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