NEWS RELEASE

St. Paul, MN -- District 17B State Rep. Jeremy Kalin, DFL-North Branch,  is one of seven Minnesota state legislators who had a perfect voting record on conservation issues in 2009 and will receive a “100% Minnesotan” award Monday in Minneapolis, the Conservation Minnesota Voter Center announced today (Thursday, Oct. 22).

The nonpartisan Center released its annual scorecard grading members of the Minnesota State House and Senate on important votes on toxic products, climate change action, habitat, recycling and funding in the 2009 session.

Representative David Bly (DFL-Northfield)
Representative Gail Kulick Jackson (DFL-Milaca)
Representative Jeremy Kalin (DFL-North Branch)
Senator Tarryl Clark (DFL-St. Cloud)
Senator Sharon Erickson Ropes (DFL-Winona)
Senator Tony Lourey  (DFL-Kerrick)
Senator Chuck Wiger (DFL-Maplewood)

“Although it was a year of only minor progress in the Legislature on conservation issues, these seven individuals displayed both courage and leadership in their votes,” said Voter Center Executive Director Paul Austin. “They put the values of Minnesotans into action. We know clean water, healthy kids and habitat, and clean energy are important to people across the state.

“Most Minnesotans are too busy to track all the goings-on at the Capitol, so we do it for them with the scorecard,” said Austin. “We hope this year’s scorecard will help citizens evaluate the performance of their own Senator and Representative on key conservation matters.”

The 2009 scorecard will be posted on Monday at: http://www.mnvotercenter.org/score/scorecard/.