Sen. Betsy Close: One of the 12 dirtiest legislators in the nation.

Kari Chisholm

Consider this: There are 7,382 state legislators in America. Ninety of them are right here in Oregon.

That collection of 7,382 surely contains a whole lot of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad legislators. Heck, I can think of several right here in Oregon.

But just 12 -- a cool dozen -- made the national League of Conservation Voters list of the very worst anti-environment legislators in the country. And one of those is right here in Oregon.

Ladies and gents, I give you Senator Betsy Close (R-Albany).

Said OLCV's Doug Moore: “Betsy Close’s lifetime OLCV score of 7% made her an obvious choice for the Dirty Dozen list. She has voted against Oregon’s environment time and again, stands with corporate polluters, and denies that climate change is happening. It’s clear that Betsy Close’s anti-conservation views are too extreme for Oregon.”

The good news is that Close is being challenged by Rep. Sara Gelser. Gelser's campaign is rocking on all cylinders, with lots of local volunteers and supporters pitching in across the state. (You can pitch in here, folks. Be generous!)

The national Dirty Dozen list is nothing to sneeze at either. In 2012, seven of the 12 named were defeated for re-election, including Rep. Mike Schaufler (D) right here in Oregon.

By Kari Chisholm Oct. 08, 2014