Susana Martinez, Steve Pearce Join Other Oil-Funded Candidates Denying Climate Change

Just one day before a gubernatorial debate on education, it's been revealed that Republican candidate Susana Martinez doesn't believe in science -- or at least the science that demonstrates convincingly that human-produced greenhouse gases are resulting in rapid global climate change. According to an article on Politico:

New Mexico GOP nominee Susana Martinez told POLITICO in Albuquerque on Saturday that she had her doubts about the role human activity plays in global warming. “I’m not sure the science completely supports that,” she said.

Martinez joins a coterie of other right-wing reactionary Republican candidates -- like tea party favorites Sharon Angle, a Nevada Senate candidate, Ken Buck, a Senate candidate in Colorado, and our own Steve Pearce -- who essentially are climate change deniers. They seem to have at least one thing in common:

Gene Karpinksi, president of the League of Conservation Voters, suggested an alternative motive. "Republicans running for Senate, House and governor who question the sound and settled science of climate change are following in the footsteps of a Republican leadership team that is heavily financed by and strongly influenced by Big Oil,” he said.

You may recall that Martinez got a whole lot of cash from oil and gas interests in her primary run for governor, and she's on the record saying we shouldn't be protecting New Mexico's groundwater with the so-called pit rule. Susana's proposals regarding renewable energy, the green economy and the environment are virtually nonexistent, at least on the Issues tab on her campaign website. Obviously, Martinez just isn't interested in creating any real solutions to one of the most pressing problems of the 21st century. She's content to 'just say no' to the facts.

As to the science that Martinez and the others question:

Four independent reviews have concluded that the so-called “Climategate” e-mails stolen last fall from a United Kingdom research unit showed nothing more than a frank discussion among scientists working through large and complicated sets of data. And while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has admitted it erred in its 2007 report by citing a report concluding Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035, the Nobel Prize-winning U.N. organization said the mistake didn’t undermine its larger body of work.

Pearce: Science Is Crap
Enter New Mexico's right-wing radical Congressional candidate Steve Pearce (R, NM-02), who calls the science behind climate change "crap." Pearce has a long record of opposition to even the most modest environmental protections.

Former Republican Rep. Steve Pearce, running for his old seat in southern New Mexico, told POLITICO that climate scientists should be questioned more thoroughly because of the stolen e-mails.

“I think we ought to take a look at whatever the group is that measures all this, the IPCC, they don’t even believe the crap,” Pearce said in Artesia, N.M. “They’re the ones who say in the e-mails we’ve got to worry about this, keep these voices quiet. If they don’t believe it, why should the rest of [sic] be penalized in our standard of living for something that can’t be validated?”

Pearce was one of the first to be named by the League of Conservation Voters to this year's "Dirty Dozen" list.

“While in office, Rep. Steve Pearce took good care of Big Oil by maintaining their costly tax breaks while voting against every opportunity to create clean energy jobs, reduce pollution and improve fuel economy for New Mexico families,” said Karpinski. “His acceptance of nearly a million dollars in campaign contributions proves that as a returning Congressman he would be paid for by Big Oil and that’s why LCV is wasting no time naming him to the Dirty Dozen for the 2010 campaign cycle.”

In addition to owning millions of dollars of stock in Key Energy, a Texas-based oil services company, Rep. Pearce has accepted more from the oil and gas industry, $923,972, than from any other economic sector. He has voted to give more than $14 billion in tax breaks to the oil industry, opposed renewable electricity, and fought against fuel efficient cars that would save New Mexico families hundreds of dollars at the pump. LCV helped to defeat Rep. Pearce during his bid for the New Mexico seat in the U.S. Senate in its 2008 Dirty Dozen campaign. During his five years in Congress, Rep. Pearce earned an abysmal lifetime LCV score of 3%.

Pearce, Martinez and the others are clearly in the sway of moneyed interests that will do and say almost anything to convince people the facts don't count on climate change. As on so many other issues, Susana and Steve want you to believe in myths and ignore truths. Don't get sucked in by the right-wing echo chamber.