Conservation group gives three area lawmakers lowest score for 2012 votes

The N.C. League of Conservation Voters has given three Wilmington-area state legislators scores of “0” for their votes on environmental issues in the 2012 legislative short session.

State Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, and state Sens. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, and Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, all voted the opposite of the way the conservation group wanted them to on a series of bills that affected the environment in some way.

They were among 44 legislators – out of 170 in the House and Senate – who received the lowest possible score on the group’s scorecard, which was released Monday. Legislators were ranked from 0 to 100.

Since 1999, the League handed out only four “0” scores on the Legislative Scorecard, the last in 2001.

“The 2012 legislative session was characterized by a wanton disregard for the natural heritage of our state,” said Dan Crawford, the league’s director of governmental relations, in a prepared statement. “Many of these decisions were made under the false rhetoric that ‘regulations kill jobs.’ But voters understand that a strong economy and a clean environment are inseparable, and we’re confident that will show in the November elections.”

All legislative seats are up for grabs this November.

Twenty-nine lawmakers received scores of “100″ in 2012. The average score in the House for the 2011-12 session was 42 percent, downt from 67 percent in 2009-10. The Senate average was 31 percent, compared to 69 percent in 2009-2010. During the 2012 short session, more than half of the House and nearly half of the Senate scored “10″ or below.

Other scores of local lawmakers:

Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover: 50

Rep. Dewey Hill, D-Columbus: 11

Rep. Carolyn Justice, R-Pender: 9

Rep. Danny McComas, R-New Hanover: 33

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