From: alra@governance.net Subject: Alaska Drilling Defeated: WHY? Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA. 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 – E-mail: alra@landrights.org Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE- Washington, DC 20003 Phone: 202-210-2357 – Fax: 202-543-7126 – E-mail: landrightsnet@aol.com Alaska Drilling Defeated: WHY? HOW did it happen??? Opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for oil and gas production was DEFEATED in the Senate Wednesday by a vote of 48 to 52. It is hopefully not the last word on ANWR this year. But today's vote is, in any case, a serious loss for common sense resource production on America's federal lands. QUESTION: HOW did it happen??? ANSWER: Liberal Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. QUESTION: Senator Alexander voted in favor of opening up ANWR. So why is he at fault? ANSWER: Alexander voted yes ONLY after he had a $250 million annual cash honey pot for leftwing environmentalists added to the ANWR vote! Here is the rest of the story -- a YES vote on opening up ANWR for oil and gas exploration ALSO was a vote in support of $250 million per year being handed out for seizure of private property and grant money to the environmental left. Liberal Republican Lamar Alexander, three days before the vote, attached to the budget resolution being considered by the Senate, wording that permitted tax revenues from ANWR to be used for land acquisition and grant money to finance his allies in the environmental movement. So the Greens would get their pile of cash -- ONLY if ANWR passed! This was a last ditch attempt to pander to the Big Green Enviro Machine. Senator "Liberal Lamar" Alexander tried it the old-fashioned way -- pander to the liberals and hope that you can buy them off. Alexander's desperate effort yielded ZERO votes for ANWR, while SELLING OUT the grassroots property rights activists who have loyally supported ANWR exploration over the years. WHAT A SHAME!!! WHAT A FAILURE!!! The best efforts of Champion Alaska Senator Ted Stevens to gain approval for ANWR exploration were undermined by the bumbling of one of his fellow Republicans -- Tennessee's "Liberal Lamar" Alexander. Grassroots property rights activists were stunned and amazed - getting this close to victory, and then at the last minute being asked to accept a quarter of a BILLION dollars in annual taxpayer funds for Big Green in exchange for ANWR being approved. At this critical moment, most sat on their hands, unwilling to accept such a blatant sellout. And we could have made the difference. EXAMPLES: Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine BOTH held firm for the past several years and opposed the multi-billion dollar "CARA" Land Grab bill, after listening to their property rights activist constituents back home in Maine. However, both voted Wednesday for keeping ANWR closed to exploration. If they had heard from their conservative constituents as well as their liberal ones, then they may have voted in favor of opening up ANWR. Also, Senators Gordon Smith of Oregon and Norm Coleman of Minnesota have very large activist organizations in their states devoted to reasonable multiple use of the federal lands and private property rights. However, those networks were not motivated for ANWR, due to Tennessee Senator Alexander attaching the huge cash payout to the Greenies to passage of ANWR exploration. If only two of those four swing Senators - Snowe, Collins, Smith and Coleman - had voted for ANWR exploration instead of against, then it would have been approved! The vote would have been 50 to 50, then Vice President Cheney would have cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of ANWR. Or if three or all four of the swing Senators had voted for ANWR, then there would have been 51 or 52 votes in favor, and it would have been approved. ACTION ITEM: TELL Senator "Liberal Lamar" Alexander that he BLEW IT for America's energy security!!! His playing up to his environmentalist buddies, offering them a quarter of a BILLION dollars per year, gained NO VOTES while it cost the support of longtime core supporters of ANWR. HERE are his fax number and the emails of his top staff aides. PLEASE contact them!!! Tell them -- ESPECIALLY if you live in Tennessee: Dear Liberal Lamar Alexander: YOU BOTCHED IT on the vote to open up ANWR!!! Handing out cash to environmentalists does not work!!! Fax Number: 202-228-3398 Emails of key staff: Tom_ingram@alexander.senate.gov Lindsey_ward@alexander.senate.gov Richard_hertling@alexander.senate.gov PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR LIST. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.