Climate Action, Sustainability, and Environmental Justice (CASEJ)/Brown/0207MediaAdv

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 7, 2012 Contact: Shoshana Blank, 303-570-7720 or Alli Welton, 509-322-8755

**ADVISORY**

 Public Outcry over Sen. Scott Brown Support for Keystone XL Pipeline; Grassroots Anti-Corruption Campaign Launching Thursday in Response  Climate and Occupy Activists Join Forces to Announce New Grassroots Campaign In Response to Scott Brown Corruption Scandal The launch of a new grassroots anti-corruption campaign dedicated to highlighting the millions of dollars poured into Sen. Scott Brown’s campaign before he secretively endorsed the Keystone XL Pipeline. The grassroots activists behind the campaign have joined forces from the #Occupy Boston and climate movements. The campaign sees Sen. Scott Brown’s co-sponsorship of a Senate Bill to force through the Keystone XL Pipeline as emblematic of systemic corruption in Washington. Where and When: Thursday, Feb 9, at 12:30pm starting at Park Street Station and marching to Scott Brown’s District Office in Boston (JFK Federal Building, near Gov Center)  Who:  A coalition of Massachusetts residents, climate activists, and Occupy Boston working groups. Visuals:  Demonstrators dressed in striped referee shirts, throwing red penalty flags to highlight the injustice and unfairness of the corporate influence on legislators; life-size cutout of Scott Brown; large banners and signs. Background: Corporate polluters like the oil and coal industries and their front groups poured over $1.9 million into Sen. Brown’s 2010 campaign. Just last week, Sen. Brown secretly co-sponsored a bill that would force through the Keystone XL Pipeline, despite popular outrage over the pipeline in Massachusetts. The new campaign will launch with a rally and will escalate over the coming months with bird-dogging and occupations. The campaign will seek to hold up Sen. Brown’s two year stint in the Senate as an example of systemic corruption in Washington, where politicians take millions of dollars from industries they then vote to support with pet projects and taxpayer handouts.   ###  ''MA 350 is a growing grassroots climate group in Massachusetts working to hold corrupt politicians accountable while working for solutions to climate change at every level of government. '350.org'Action Fund is a project of '350.org', an international grassroots campaign building a movement to stop the climate crisis. “350” stands for 350 parts per million, the safe upper limit of carbon in the atmosphere. We are currently at 392 ppm and rising.''