After getting a complaint from the national League of Conservation Voters, Rick Lazio, the Republican candidate for Senate in New York, pulled a campaign ad yesterday that criticized his Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, for supporting the Kyoto climate change treaty. The ad described Kyoto as “a radical environmental treaty that would wipe out thousands of manufacturing jobs in New York.” The LCV has endorsed both Lazio and Clinton in the race. Even as he pulled the ad, Lazio criticized Kyoto for placing an unfair burden on the industrial world for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the environment is playing a big role in the Washington Senate race pitting Sen. Slade Gorton (R) against former Rep. Maria Cantwell (D). Since first elected to the Senate in 1980, Gorton has grown increasingly hostile to environmental causes and mastered the craft of attaching anti-environmental riders to unrelated bills. Cantwell, an executive on leave from an Internet company, says Gorton has a “19th-century view” and remains fixated on industries like mining and logging when Washington has an opportunity to lead the information-age economy.
