Banned in Boston: Ad Holding Senator Scott Brown Accountable for Taking 1.9 Mill From Big Polluters

I grew up riding the MBTA -- Green Line to Fenway Park and Boston Garden, Red Line to Park St. Under. I'd pass the time staring up at the ads that lined the insides of the train: for trade schools, for hemorrhoid creams, for all the things your average Boston commuter might require.

Which is why I was happy when my colleagues at 350.org decided it made sense to place some placards on the T -- we'd been outraged when Scott Brown voted to gut the Clean Air Act, and we'd raised crowd-sourced money a few dollars at a time via Loudsauce. The subway seemed like the perfect place for the ads: it's how real Bostonians get around, the kind of people whose daily habits keep the air a little cleaner. Forget Brown and his pickup -- the T is Massachusetts transit at its finest.

And as a side benefit, I thought we'd get to give commuters something interesting to read for once. Here's the ad:

You'll note it's not particularly rude -- it shows a perfectly nice picture of his handsome face, and just recites the facts: he took money from polluters, and he voted for their interests.

So imagine our surprise today when the MBTA refused to run the ads.They were "too controversial."

We've heard from lawyers today saying that's almost certainly unconstitutional, and I imagine we'll find out in some courtroom soon. But we want to keep the focus hard on Brown and his vote -- that's why, when the papers asked, my response was: "Too controversial? Too controversial is voting to gut the Clean Air Act, for 40 years the bulwark of our environmental policy. Maybe the T thinks spreading that news will scare people too much -- it's sweet of them to be so protective of their riders, but Brown's vote is the real horror."

We're not going to be silenced -- we've found a company that will put the ads on the back of bicycles and pedal them through the streets. And if that doesn't work, we'll find some latter-day Paul Revere with a horse, and a lantern, and a bell, and whatever the hell it was that Sarah said he was carrying. One way or another we'll get the word out -- but if you'd like to help, you can contact the T here and help pay for the bike-borne ads here.

 

Follow Bill McKibben on Twitter: www.twitter.com/billmckibben

Comments

[dadw5boys]

12:15 PM on 07/18/2011

The Jet Stream of winds carry the Dirty Air up to Boston from the Coal Fired Power Plants.

So vote for your health or don't you choice.

Eliz Warren will be a better Repersentative.

[SecondTime]

04:14 PM on 06/18/2011

'real' Bostonians? Interesting phrase from someone who regularly displays a substantial gulf between his thoughts and the real world. You really must take a break, a vacation somewhere peaceful, and preferably where patient, compassionate, and informed people can point out your fatuousness in a gentle fashion.

[glomtt]

05:33 PM on 06/16/2011

This is a true crime, and this is what people should be outraged about. The buying of our politicians. It seems they prefer to be taken advantage of by politicians than to have one fighting for their best interest. A W should still be in office and Brown should be out.

[heian120]

11:22 AM on 06/20/2011

wrong. Scott is solid and will stay in office

[dadw5boys]

12:16 PM on 07/18/2011

nah Elz Warren will take him out -- since he already sold out that is the natural route for him

[Javani]

02:18 PM on 06/16/2011

"and we'd raised crowd-sourced money a few dollars at a time via Loudsauce."

Is that because 350.org is highly principled, or that the money from Goldman-BP-NRDC-Royal Dutch Shell-JP Morgan-Pew, etc. dried up because of the org's association with the cap and trade denier James Hansen?

[sagmann]

11:18 AM on 06/16/2011

We need hundreds, thousands of Bill McKibben...or perhaps one might be enough, if MSM gave him a big bullhorn, like Fox is giving to any rightwinger-preacher spitting hatred.
Great job, Bill. I'm poor, there comes my $5 for your campaign to denounce Scott's dark side. I wish we had a Bill McKibben down here, in rotten FL.

[Malcolm Hensley]

11:08 AM on 06/16/2011

Come on it was a throw away vote. President Obama said he was going to veto it. The Democrats in the senate had enough votes to kill it.
It was just a knee jerk Republican reaction to the U.S. losing its competitiveness during a time of high unemployment.

I think it's a stupid approach. Making the U.S. as unhealthy as the fast developing nations is counter productive anyway.

A better approach is to add an environmental tax or tariff on products sold here based on the environmental impact of transportation, manufacturing, and sustainability of products sold here.

This does several things, it rewards nations for having a strong EPA equivalent, it encourages local manufacturing, it encourages fast developing nations to protect their rain forest, conserve, and reduce pollution. All good things.

One party needs to re-frame the argument.

This knee jerk Republican reactions is just silly.

[heian120]

11:24 AM on 06/20/2011

good ideas. Hard to get into law

[gurukalehuru]

09:29 AM on 06/16/2011

Politics is inherently controversial. If the MBTA has ever accepted a political ad, then they have to accept this one.
If they have a blanket policy against political ads, I could live with that.

[boondoggle]

04:52 PM on 06/17/2011

But the first amendment couldn't. Can't wait to hear what the reason for censorship will be, maybe something along the lines of "Brown's face is just so beautiful it causes a health and safety issue by increasing the likelihood of accidents."

[skeehanson5990]

09:06 AM on 06/16/2011

You might consider looking. each time you take the subway, for an ad you can find anything to, even implausibly, disagree with, and calling MBTA repeatedly and irately protesting. I suspect that's what they're out to avoid. If you can make them ALL controversial, none will be.

[TheKraken]

06:50 AM on 06/16/2011

Dear MBTA,
Increasing environmental awareness is to your own advantage, since you are Boston's greener alternative to driving.

[MikeWebster]

04:32 AM on 06/16/2011

I thought Paul Revere was in a helicopter with a sniper rifle, looking for moose.

I'm pretty sure it the problem with the add was that it contained facts. All the other adds are just trying to deceive everyone.

[lbsaltzman]

12:48 AM on 06/16/2011

Bravo Bill McKibben. Keep up the fight to save humanity from itself.

[Minolta321]

10:57 PM on 06/15/2011

Maybe the MBTA doesn't believe in supporting the politics of personal destruction??

[ClimateHawk]

12:23 AM on 06/16/2011

It's not "personally destructive". It's about how he is doing his job.

[ubrew12]

12:58 AM on 06/16/2011

So, now its destructive to point out someones voting record?
And link that vote to a $2 million check he got from polluters?

I would call that a public service announcement.