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2009 Election Candidate Forum:
The Candidates

Frank Morris's responses to the 10 questions of the candidate forum:
Candidate responses were limited to 150 words per question.

What leadership positions have you held in the Sierra Club, and what have you accomplished in those positions?

I’m Chairperson of Long Island Sierra Club, and an elected member of the executive committee of NYS Sierra Club.  I am former vice chairperson of the NYC Sierra Club, where I was in charge of vice  : ). I raised over $20,000 for NYC Sierra club through wine tastings, the cultivation of major donors, and a member supported Walk For Clean Drinking Water. I’ve been extensively quoted in Long Island’s newspaper, Newsday, supporting a Sierra Club endorsed candidate in a critical State Senate campaign. (The candidate won, defeating an entrenched incumbent.) I’ve been featured supporting Sierra Club on Long Island Television News 12.  I’ve organized fundraisers (organic wine tastings, a concert for the environment, and a Kayakathon) that have raised over $5,000 for Long Island Sierra Club.   I’ve led effective executive committee meetings using Roberts Rules that consistently engaged 13 to 17 agenda items in two hours.

What needed skills or abilities will you bring to the Board of Directors: A team player? Conflict resolution experience? Financial expertise? Technology/communications? Other? Be specific.

I can work with anybody.  I have experience working with elected officials and their staff.  I am comfortable organizing the grassroots membership, and being responsive to their needs and questions.  Professionally, I run a Registered Investment Advisory, Ecologic Advisors, specializing in environmental investing.  I manage equity accounts for clients through the trademarked Earth Index of public companies that provide solutions to environmental pollution.  Trust and responsiveness to my client’s individual situations are the foundation of my business. I would bring those same qualities to the Board.  Simply put, I enjoy working with environmental people.  I enjoy the passion, and I even enjoy the disagreements.  I like working with intelligent, motivated people, and most Sierrans fit the bill.  Working with others to protect the ecology is my great passion, and I’d be honored to serve on the Board of Directors.

A lot has changed in the last 6 months—President-elect Obama's victory, the unprecedented economic crises, the number of people energized by the election. How should the Sierra Club view its role in this changed environment?

With the election of Barack Obama, Sierra Club should seize the opportunity and ask the new president to appoint a Sierra Club insider to act as the President’s liaison on environmental issues.  Sierra Club should tirelessly champion “green jobs” in energy efficiency and renewable energy as a means to put Americans to work.  Sierra Club should also be willing to hold the president publicly accountable if his environmental actions don’t meet up to his rhetoric.

Please comment on the question of the Club engaging in business partnerships, including the Club's recent experience in cause-related marketing with Clorox Greenworks line of household cleaning products?

I believe the Sierra Club/Clorox deal was a big mistake.  What’s next?  Marlboro roles out a line of organic cigarettes and partners with Sierra Club???  The strength of the Sierra Club is its members, and many members that I speak to were very upset with the Clorox deal.  Considering this, was the Clorox deal really worth the money?

What is your experience with outings, and what do you see as their role in the Club?

I have been married since September 2000, and have not been involved with Sierra Club outings since my marriage because my wife Florence doesn’t like bugs.  One mosquito bite on her sensitive skin, or a gnat in her ear, can put my dear wife in a funk for a week.  A happy wife is a happy life.  Before my marriage, I used to enjoy trail service hikes in the Catskills and around Long Island.   The role of outings is part of our mandate as Sierrans, to ENJOY the natural environment.  As Sierrans, as environmentalists, we need more joy in our work protecting the ecology.  Outings help to provide the joy.

In the spirit of One Club, what do you see as the proper relationship of staff and volunteers to each other and to the mission of the Club in 2009 and beyond, and how would you improve the connection between National Sierra Club operations and grassroots leadership?

In the spirit of One Club, and in the spirit of staff and volunteer interaction, I think the staff should assist the volunteers in our conservation efforts.  I think Sierra Club’s unique, membership driven structure should be championed to our members in every state.  Leadership by motivated volunteer members is what makes Sierra Club the most powerful environmental organization in America.  Members should be setting policy, identifying priorities, and engaging issues on the local level.  Staff should be supporting these efforts.  Staff should help local volunteers get the resources we need to get things done.  Regarding improving the connection between National Sierra Club operations and grassroots leadership, elect me to the Board of Directors, and I’ll advocate that staff be shifted to directly support chapter conservation efforts.  The Sierra Club bureaucracy in San Francisco and DC could be leaner and sharper, and if I’m elected, it will be.

What is your experience with grassroots organizing? What do you see as the key differences between 20th century grassroots organizing and 21st century grassroots organizing?

I’ve worked in public housing projects in Manhattan's Lower East Side, going door to door to help elect New York City council candidates.  I’ve hired, organized, and managed election day get out the vote efforts that employed over 120 people   I’ve worked as the volunteer coordinator for a congressional campaign here on Long Island. I’ve organized petition drives.  There is very little in the way of grass roots organizing that I haven’t done.  Regarding the difference between 20th century and 21 century grass roots organizing, the simple answer is email and the internet.  With the touch of a button, through email, a network of people can be contacted…But it’s the personal appeal to those people that makes the outreach valuable.   Grass roots organizing in the 21st century has to be real, with real issues, real strategies, and real work to get the job the done.  Otherwise, it’s just spam.

What is your vision of ways to finance the Club's Chapters, Groups, and volunteer structures in the next 2, 5, and 10 years? Would you support mechanisms such as national-chapter fundraising partnerships, new types of grants, allocation of funds based on non-demographic criteria, or general assistance in outside fund-raising? Suggest other ways. Please be specific.

I know how to raise money.  I do it almost everyday. People donate to organizations that they believe in.  Raising money is based on two things:  TRUST and RELATIONSHIP.  If a person TRUSTS that their money is going to be put to good use, they will contribute.  If a person has a healthy RELATIONSHIP with the organization and the organizations mission, they will contribute.  New types of grants etc, is secondary to the good work of organizing to protect the ecology.  If Sierra Club continues to support the grassroots membership, continues to help to elect good environmental candidates, continues to consistently support energy efficiency and truly renewable energy, (not natural gas), continues to lead the fight to protect watersheds and open space habitats, we shouldn’t have any problem raising money.  When we compromise our mandate, when we get trapped into paying for a redundant self serving bureaucracy, fundraising will lag.

The Club is undertaking work to bring more youth and diverse cultures into our membership and leadership. What specific strategies would you advocate to accomplish this?

My friend and fellow Long Island Sierran Shawn Kilmurray is the new executive Director of Rock The Earth.  http://www.rocktheearth.org/joomla/   My relationship with Shawn is personal.  If Sierra Club is truly interested in reaching out to young people, let’s partner with a group like Rock The Earth and have a series of concerts.  The Sierra Club Student Coalition could co sponsor concerts and energize young people around the US.  Shawn has worked professionally with Alicia Keys, Phish, and the Dave Mathews Band.  He knows these people personally.   He has relationships throughout the music industry.  My strategy to bring in young people and people of diverse culture is simple:  Meet them where they are, crank up the volume, and dance for the Earth.  My relationship with Shawn Kilmurray will make this happen.

How effective are the Sierra Club's publication and electronic communication tools and which ones do you read or use?

I’m on about 8 Sierra Club list serves.  I most closely track energy issues, and agree with Ned Ford’s efforts to prioritize energy efficiency.   The list serves are a good way to communicate with Sierra club leaders, and I’m very thankful that Sierra Club provides this service.  I’ve been actively involved with the environmental movement since the first Gulf War, and my efforts are action orientated.  I listen to NPR most waking moments, read google news throughout the day.  I consider myself well informed.  Sierra Club publications aren’t a big part of my media diet.