Sierra Club Florida

Guidelines for Florida Endorsements

Federal Endorsements

The SCPC Endorsements and Allocations Subcommittee proceeded with endorsements of previously endorsed federal candidates with continued good environmental records at its May meeting as proscribed by the SCPC Guidelines in Section 2-704. The Interim Political Committee, working with the SCPC liaison for Florida, acted as the first voting body on these endorsements and the SCPC will act as the second voting body.

Consideration for endorsement of other candidates, including incumbents and challengers, will begin with the Group Political Chairs in each relevant congressional district. The Groups will make initial contacts with candidates and facilitate the early stages of the endorsement process including the questionnaire and interview as proscribed by SCPC Endorsement Guidelines beginning in Section 2-000. The Groups will make endorsement recommendations to the Interim Political Committee. The Interim Political Committee will serve as the first voting body and the SCPC Endorsements and Allocations Subcommittee will serve as the second voting body for these endorsements. If necessary, the SCPC may still act in accordance with procedures outlined in section 2-720 – Approval without Chapter Agreement or Recommendation.

State and Local Endorsements

The endorsements will continue to originate with the Groups. However, state candidates and local candidates will be handled using slightly different procedures.

In most cases, state legislative candidate endorsements will be approved using a three tier system. First, an endorsement will be initiated by the Group Executive Committees of all the groups in a particular legislative district. Those recommendations will be forwarded to the Interim Political Committee for a second vote. The third and final approval for these endorsements will be made by the SCPC Endorsements and Allocations Subcommittee. If Groups fail to act in key races, the endorsement may be initiated by the Interim Political Committee. In this case, the SCPC Endorsements and Allocations Subcommittee would still be required to provide the required second level of approval.

Local endorsements will be carried out in a manner similar to how they were made prior to the Chapter suspension with one of the Regional Political Committees – made up of the Political Chairs of the included groups – acting as the final approving body. The Group Executive Committee will act as the first voting body for these endorsements and forward recommendations to the appropriate Regional Political Committee. The Regional Political Committee will vote on the recommendations and report the results to the Interim Political Committee.

Except as specifically outlined above, all other Sierra Club Political Committee Compliance Guidelines related to endorsements (Section 2-000) still apply. These operating principles will remain in place until the Florida Steering Committee is granted the authority by the Board Executive Committee to act as a voting body for the purposes of approving endorsements.