Daily Sentinel uncritically reported Penry's baseless claim that conservation group is “blatantly partisan”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

In an article reporting on Western Slope legislators' records on conservation issues, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction uncritically repeated Republican state Sen. Josh Penry's false assertion that Colorado Conservation Voters (CCV) is “a blatantly partisan organization focused on electing Democrats.” Additionally, the Daily Sentinel did not mention that CCV is a nonpartisan organization that endorsed five* state Republican legislative candidates in 2006.

In a June 7 article, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction uncritically quoted state Sen. Josh Penry's (R-Fruita) baseless criticism of Colorado Conservation Voters (CCV) as “a blatantly partisan organization focused on electing Democrats.” In fact, according to its website, CCV is a “non-partisan political action committee dedicated to electing conservation candidates of both major parties to public office in Colorado.” (emphasis added) Moreover, the Daily Sentinel did not mention that while CCV overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates in the last election, it also endorsed five* Republican candidates for state office, including two who represent Western Slope districts, as Penry does: Reps. Ellen Roberts (R-Durango) and Al White (R-Winter Park). CCV also endorsed Republican state Reps. Frank McNulty (R-Highlands Ranch) and Rob Witwer (R-Golden), and former Rep. Bob McCluskey (R-Fort Collins).

As the Daily Sentinel reported, “Western Slope lawmakers helped spearhead 'the most pro-conservation legislative session in our state's history,' according to a Colorado Conservation Voters report released Wednesday." The article, titled “Western Slope lawmakers spearhead conservation reform,” further noted:

The “2007 Conservation Scorecard,” which tracks House and Senate votes on environmental, energy, water and wildlife reforms, shows that more than half of the region's 11 lawmakers were strong supporters of conservation values throughout the legislative session.

“I think Western Slope lawmakers have showed real leadership on conservation issues,” said Carrie Doyle, executive director of Colorado Conservation Voters. “That leadership happened for a reason: Western Slope districts were on the front lines of many of the conservation issues being debated this year.”

The report card highlights the roles Western Slope lawmakers played in pushing conservation measures, including Reps. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, Bernie Buescher, D-Grand Junction, Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, Dan Gibbs, D-Silverthorne, Al White, R-Winter Park, and Sens. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, and Gail Schwartz, D-Snowmass Village. Each lawmaker, according to the report, had conservation scores of 70 or more on a 100-point scale. Buescher, Curry, Gibbs and Schwartz recorded perfect scores.

The report says they played crucial roles in pushing surface-rights legislation, open-space protections, oil and gas drilling reforms, and water-quality protections this year.

The Daily Sentinel article also noted that "[t]he report is not so glowing for every Western Slope lawmaker" and stated that it “single[d] out an amendment Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, offered during an April 23 debate on House Bill 1037, which directs the Public Utilities Commission to develop rules for a program promoting energy efficiency for natural gas distributors.” After noting that Penry “discounted the report,” the article quoted him as saying, “Colorado Conservation Voters are very nice people, but they are a blatantly partisan organization focused on electing Democrats, so I don't put a lot of stock in their report.”

In addition to omitting the fact that CCV is expressly nonpartisan and endorsed five* Republicans in the last election, the Daily Sentinel provided no response to Penry's criticism of the organization.

This item originally stated: "In an article reporting on Western Slope legislators' records on conservation issues, The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction uncritically repeated Republican state Sen. Josh Penry's false assertion that Colorado Conservation Voters (CCV) is 'a blatantly partisan organization focused on electing Democrats.' Additionally, the Daily Sentinel did not mention that CCV is a nonpartisan organization that endorsed four state Republican legislative candidates in 2006." In fact, CCV endorsed five Republican candidates in 2006. According to the group's website, in addition to endorsing Roberts, White, McNulty, and Witwer, CCV also co-endorsed former Rep. Bob McCluskey (R-Fort Collins). Colorado Media Matters regrets the error.