SierraScape October - November 2004
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CANDIDATE STATEMENTS

Executive Committee (ExCom) members meet once per month to authorize club actions and assist activities of other Eastern Missouri Group (EMG) members.

There are seven voting members on the ExCom. Four persons will be elected, each to fill a two-year term. Voting instructions are given on the ballot (see page 4).

The following are statements by candidates for the ExCom, listed in alphabetical order.

     Sreenu Dandamundi

While I am a relatively new member to the Sierra Club (member since January 2003) I have been active in the Sierra Club. In October 2003, I represented the Eastern Missouri Group at the Sierra Club's national political training in Washington, DC. I also assisted our Political Chair, P. McNeer Dillon, by serving as the EMG Political Committee's vice-chair until earlier this year, when I resigned to run for state representative.

As a member of the EMG's Executive Committee, I will continue to help the Sierra Club in formulating and implementing environment-friendly policies in Missouri. This includes selecting good candidates for elective office; educating the public and government officials on issues that are important to the environment, such as the Holcim cement plant in Ste. Genevieve; and attending conferences and meetings hosted by other progressive organizations to help build a progressive coalition to lead Missouri into the 21st Century.

As a former candidate for state representative, I already have several personal contacts in other progressive organizations and will be able to work on building a strong coalition of progressives. Furthermore, as a self-employed attorney, I will have a flexible schedule, and therefore the time, to put into being a productive member of the Executive Committee.

For these reasons, I would like to seek a position on the EMG's Executive Committee.

     P. McNeer Dillon

I am genuinely concerned for the welfare of the environment and the Sierra Club. I believe I have demonstrated this over the last eight years of engagement with politics, and before that with outdoor activities. I will not have the time anymore to devote to political action. My time will be largely taken up with personal business that has been neglected. I will, however, have some time to participate in the deliberations of the EMG Executive Committee. This is less than a full time job. As an ExCom member, I still would be able to contribute serious service to the EMG.

I believe that the political process of the EMG can be improved substantially. I think I could contribute to these improvements more effectively as an ExCom member than as a political chairman. I would like to have that opportunity.

There are many responsibilities and duties that an ExCom member must give attention besides politics. I would give them the attention needed from me. Nevertheless, I would not totally abandon my interest in political action in the Group. I would want the Political Committee to succeed in its aims.

The political effectiveness of the Ozark Chapter is greatly undermined by the apathy and non-participation of members in every group. I am interested to promote efforts to engage our members in political consciousness and effort, as well as going on hikes and floats. I hasten to say that I find no fault with those activities when I call for the development of political consciousness. I would like to promote "engage our members" programs.

I would promote ways to advertise the corporate abuses of the environment, and to inform the public about the Sierra Club positions on environmental issues. This could be accomplished handily if we had the participation of enough similarly interested members to write and distribute opinion editorials and fact sheets. We need to do a better job of projecting our point of view to the public.

I would seek to strengthen the Corps of Correspondents consisting of people who write letters to legislators and bureaucrats regarding environmental issues. Such a group exists in the EMG, but is lightly used. It serves to support both the Conservation Committee and the Political Committee. The EMG could have members and even others scattered all over the EMG territory, ready to write when informed of the issues. It would be greatly valuable to engage a number of people to recruit persons whose writing could be coordinated by an appointed person.

It would be a good idea to collect a group of recruiters for staffing many different functions and activities. It might be as difficult to find recruiters as to find anyone else for other jobs. It would be well worth the effort, if any can be found. I would like to promote this.

These are some of the important undertakings that I would advance as a member of the EMG Executive Committee. If you too think these undertakings would be valuable, then I ask for your vote.

     Del Johnson

The membership of EMG Sierra includes a relatively small group of men and women who possess the zeal and competence needed to keep us in the forefront of environmental defense efforts. But these stalwart souls can't do it all alone, and they can't do it forever. They need help from others of us, who, while we concede our qualifications are more modest, can nevertheless assist the faithful ones who are on the cutting edge of EMG efforts and help save them from exhaustion.

I have been active in EMG since 1999, following retirement from a teaching career of thirty-five years at the Forest Park campus of St. Louis Community College. I continue to teach there part time. Before retirement at the age of sixty-five, for reasons good and bad, I allowed my time to be taken up with work and family, and took almost no part in environmental or civic activities.

My conservation activities, other than the work of EMG Sierra, include participation in Missouri's volunteer water monitoring program, for which I keep track of four sites in eastern Missouri. I am one of the founding members of Creekkeepers, in the city of Rock Hill. I participate in the River des Peres Coalition, which works toward restoration of the River des Peres watershed. I also accompany the botany group of the Webster Groves Nature Study Society on plant identification walks.

With the help of volunteers, I have coordinated the mailing of the Sierrascape to our members for several years. I have just complete one term on the ExCom, for one year as secretary, and for the past year as ExCom chair. In this position I try to be an effective communicator, facilitator, and general greaser of wheels. I try to make sure that everyone knows what everyone else is doing, that small problems do not turn into big ones through neglect, and that holes in our projects are plugged as quickly as possible. A recent example of this was the Lewis & Clark commemorative event in St. Charles in May, where, without a great deal of advance notice, we moved quickly and prepared a booth carrying the Sierra message, both local and national, to the crowds of visitors attending this celebration.

In passing, I strongly urge all members of EMG Sierra who have been involved for at least a couple of years in any of our activities to consider very seriously running for the ExCom, if not next year, then at some time in the next few years. The good folks I mentioned in my first paragraph should not be expected to do it alone. You will find such service to be a rewarding and valuable experience, not beyond the abilities of any of us with an interest in environmental preservation.

     Kathi Knipfer

During my eleven year Sierra Club membership, I have held group, chapter, regional, and national positions. I have been in Missouri for about six years, and began my Sierra Club work in Oklahoma. I have worked on many conservation issues such as water quality, air quality, sprawl, confined animal feeding operations, and forest issues. I believe it is important to involve and motivate our volunteers at the local level and would support and assist in planning activities that encourage participation in group meetings, outings, and local conservation work.

     Jim Nyberg

The Sierra Club is an effective advocate for protecting wild places, preventing further environmental damage, and restoring what is savable. Supporting these continuing efforts is our responsibility to future generations.

My active membership in the Eastern Missouri Group since 1980 includes petition campaigns, political lobbying, several committees, lemonade sales and countless outings. As a member of the EMG Executive Committee, I was representative to the Ozark Chapter ExCom (1994) and chair (1995); and am currently treasurer (1999-2004). I've undertaken extra projects including the new bylaws, public events, office equipment and office relocation. As treasurer, I've introduced comprehensive financial reporting and cost control.

I am a candidate to continue working for the Sierra Club and our natural earth.

     Patrick O'Driscoll

Pat has served on EMG and Ozark Chapter ExCom and ConsCom in 2003. He worked on the political action committee and on Lobby Days went to Jefferson City to ask State Senators and Representatives to pass laws protecting the environment. He assists with Sierra Scape newsletter mailing parties. Pat has also worked on fund raisers such as the lemonade brigade. He follows air and water issues because they are a primary concern to him. He also e-mails and writes letters to government agencies and elected officials urging them to safeguard the environment. He attends government agency hearings. This has helped him keep current on new projects being proposed.