As you've probably read by now, New Jersey progressive candidate Ed Potosnak withdrew his challenge to Leonard Lance yesterday to take a job as the executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters. He was one of Blue America's favorite candidates, both in the 2010 cycle and again this year. We'll miss him, but we know he will accomplish a lot in his new job. Here's what he told me last night when he came up with the idea for this contest to help out a Blue America candidate.
I have always been a strong environmentalist. As a young adult my passion for nature manifested itself by guiding my choices as an individual. As an adult I turned my commitment to the environment into political advocacy, because protecting our natural resources is bigger than recycling and requires strong pro-environment policies. It is urgent that we address global climate change and take measurable steps to safeguard our water, air, land and wildlife for our future generations.
New Jersey faces significant challenges in cleaning up and safeguarding our environment. I am extremely proud to be leading the NJ League of Conservation Voters and working with our diverse members to provide justice for an environment that cannot defend itself. With our help, our state will serve as a role model for other similarly challenged communities throughout world.
Ed has some extra money in his campaign war chest, and he's offered to give the maximum amount allowable from one campaign to another, $2,000, to the Blue America candidate who gets the most contributions in the next 24 hours. So take a look at our ActBlue page and contribute-- whether a dollar or $1,000, it still counts as one "vote"-- and the candidate who gets the most "votes" will get a $2,000 dollar check from Ed's campaign. Happily, all of the Blue America candidates are pro-environment, and all of them are running on platforms similar to Ed's in terms of protecting clean air and water and America's natural beauty.
"This is a truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Ed said to us about his new job, explaining his withdrawal from the campaign. “I look forward to building on the grassroots energy of the diverse membership of NJLCV to promote nonpartisan solutions to our environmental challenges... I will be working every day to ensure our children and future generations have clean water and air, as well open space." Every one of these Blue America candidates is committed to the same vision for our country's future.
The rules for this contest: Just contribute any amount to any candidate on this page and it will count as a vote for that candidate. And yes, you can vote for more than one if you want to. In 24 hours we count up all the votes (again, not the dollar amounts, but the votes), and the candidate with the most gets the check from Ed's campaign.
