Environmentalists are seeing red over Tony Strickland's phony "green" pose in his run for the 19th Senate District seat.

Calling themselves the "Truth Squad," representatives from the California Sierra Club, the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV) and Vote the Coast called a press conference on Monday to set the record straight on the former Assemblyman and head of the ultra-right wing California Club for Growth.

Standing on the pristine ocean bluffs of Carpinteria, the group attacked Strickland's sketchy ballot designation as an "Alternative Energy Executive."

"Strickland knows this district supports environmental protection, so after undermining environmental protections for six years in the Assembly, Tony had to make up something, so he pretends to be an alternative energy executive," said Vera Benson of the local chapter of the CLCV.  "Strickland has problems telling the truth because voters don't want an extreme anti-environmentalist in office, but we really need a moderate alternative energy advocate like Hannah-Beth Jackson."

 "While Tony Strickland's right-wing and insurance company backers tell lies about Hannah-Beth Jackson, Tony Strickland has built his whole campaign on a whopper," said David Allgood, Southern California Director of the CLCV, in a statement released before the event. "Does Tony Strickland really believe that he can vote against environmental priorities over 98 percent of the time, join big oil to fight a landmark California global warming law, vote against the law that created the alternative energy market in California - and now sell himself as an alternative energy advocate? Or, does he think voters aren't smart enough to discover the truth - or to remember that just two years ago he was running for office as a right-wing activist who specialized in defeating moderate Republicans?"

In contrast, Jackson, Strickland's opponent, took home perfect scores in each of the Sierra Club's tallies, wrote green bills and chaired the Natural Resources and Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committees. She quickly distinguished herself as one of the legislature's most dedicated defenders of clean air, safe drinking water, coastal preservation and environmental health.

The Sierra Club's Fran Farina detailed how Strickland totally disregarded the serious concerns of the residents of Simi Valley when he voted against AB 826, the Perchlorate Contamination Prevention Act. Assemblywoman Jackson helped the community, although it was not in her Assembly district, by carrying a bill to clean up toxins in the water source. This bill passed. 

Vote the Coast's Susan Jordan spoke about how Strickland's supposed wave energy company was formed with four political friends and how he never put up the initial $5,000 the others had pledged to start the company. It has no business, no paid employees and its permit to study wave energy was sent back as deficient by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Truth Squad thinks that voters will not be fooled by the unfounded attacks on Jackson from his friends or the shallow TV commercials Strickland's own campaign has put on TV.