Politics & Government

Republican Bateman Breaks Ranks, Votes to Rejoin Greenhouse Gas Initiative

Conservative lobbyist targets moderate senator with robocalls, mailings.

As is his style, Sen. Kip Bateman didn't have much to say about a bill (S-1322) narrowly approved by the Senate yesterday in a party-line vote -- except for his.

His "yes" vote, however, spoke volumes.

For the past two months, the Republican from Somerset County has been the focus of a conservative group's intense campaign blitz. He has been hammered in thousands of robocalls to constituents, in direct mailings to his district, and in ads on New Jersey and New York radio stations.

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His sin? Voting along with Democratic members of the Senate Environment and Energy Committee to release the bill that would put New Jersey back into Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a 10-state effort to reduce pollution contributing to global climate change.

Last year, Gov. Chris Christie pulled New Jersey out of the regional program, declaring it nothing more than a tax on electric bills. Ever since, clean energy advocates and environmentalists -- more than 100 of whom showed up yesterday at the Statehouse to lobby for the bill -- have been trying to have the state rejoin the initiative.

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It isn't likely to happen, as yesterday's 22-15 vote illustrates. The bill won approval with just one vote more than is necessary for passage in the Senate, and far short of the 27 votes needed for an override of an expected veto from the governor, if it ever gets to his desk.

But don't expect Americans for Prosperity to give up its campaign against Bateman, or RGGI, as it has been dubbed.

"For us, it's a major issue," said Mike Proto, a spokesman for the group's New Jersey organization, referring to its targeting of Bateman. "Our goal is to have RGGI completely dismantled."

In a filing with the Election Law Enforcement Commission, the group revealed it had spent $564,218 in New Jersey lobbying last year, the third-highest tally, behind only the New Jersey Education Association and the AFL-CIO.

Bateman is amazed at the effort against him. "I bet they spent $100,00 [in my district]," he said yesterday prior to the vote. "I'm just one vote, and the bill is going to be vetoed by the governor anyway."

It didn't change his vote, though, despite some strong rhetoric from the AFP.

In one direct mailing, it urged voters to call his district office "now and tell him to stand with Governor Christie and electricity consumers, not Obama's green energy radicals. Tell him to fight left-wing efforts to force New Jersey back into the RGGI cap and trade scheme."

The regional greenhouse program was not started by the Obama administration, which has no role in the effort, but grew out of an idea proposed by former Republican Gov. George Pataki of New York.

The targeting of one lawmaker for a single vote shows just how much the political landscape has changed since the U.S. Supreme Court decision two years ago, ruling the government could not restrict political expenditures from corporations and unions.

It has led to the rise of groups like Americans for Prosperity, an organization primarily backed by David and Charles Koch, billionaire brothers who have been active in conservative causes.

The fact they have targeted Bateman, a moderate Republican who generally toes the Republican line, is troubling to Trenton observers, who fear similar attacks against others. No maverick, Bateman represents an affluent district that includes Princeton, where some of the world’s most noted climate scientists make their homes.

Continue reading on NJ Spotlight.NJ Spotlight is an online news service providing insight and information on issues critical to New Jersey.


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