arks supports a number of mainstream conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, NRDC, the Wilderness Society, and the Nature Conservancy, and REP's positions differ little from theirs. But she doesn't cultivate an outdoorsy image. She doesn't spout Latin names for flora and fauna, cite scientific studies (though REP's position papers do), or boast of feeling a powerful connection with any particular landscape. Instead she recalls how her father, a career Army officer whose postings kept his family on the move, would stop the car at any park they passed on their long drives and guide his only child through the woods to teach her the names of trees, plants, and birds.
REP started out slowly, with Marks simply trying to find out "if there was anyone else out there." By the summer of 1996, she, Kryzuda, and O'Keefe had written an official REP philosophy, signed up 150 members, and formed a board of directors. Today, with membership at nearly 3,000 and an annual budget of $230,000, REP puts out a quarterly newsletter, The Green Elephant, and hosts meetings (so far in 2004, the group has held workshops for members in three states on how to lobby for stricter clean-air standards). Claiming policy is not her strength, Marks leaves the formulation of position papers to her colleague Jim DiPeso, whom she affectionately calls "my policy wonk." Together, Marks and DiPeso write op-ed articles and letters to editors. Says Marks, "When we say to a Republican member of Congress, 'You're not speaking for the majority of Americans, or even of Republicans, when you vote to undercut our environmental laws,' it stings. When NRDC says that, the response is, 'Yes, well, what do you expect?'"
Eager to see Marks in action, I accompany her to a meeting of the Garden Club of America in Washington, D.C., whose members are due to meet the following day with elected officials. Marks's job is to rally the troops. The group meets in the Cannon House Caucus Room, a large, formal space with ornately carved plaster moldings and heavy swags at the windows. As she waits her turn, Marks sits politely in the back row of folding chairs. She claps in all the right places, chuckles at the lame jokes, and makes a few notes for her speech. But when Mike Leavitt, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, comes to the dais, Marks cannot contain herself. "He is from the worst state on the environment," she mutters in my ear. When Leavitt, who is from Utah, suggests he has "a better way" to improve the environment, she whispers, "Does he mean with backroom deals?"
I wonder if the assembled women, in their cashmere sweaters and Ferragamo heels, are about to be treated to an outpouring of antiestablishment invective. "No," she tells me. "I'm going to stick to my script and send them off with a rah-rah."
The cheerleader is, at first, nervous. But when she announces REP's mission "to green up the GOP," the women burst into applause. Marks looks up from her speech. She smiles and admits that her mission is "quite a chore," which gets a laugh from the audience.
Sure, there are some GOP good guys, says Marks, but REP spends a whole lot of time nagging elected Republican officials to "do the right thing" -- by which she means voting against drilling in the Arctic, against reductions in wetlands protection, against weakening the Clean Air Act. Then Marks gets to what she calls "the magic of our message."
"Imagine the impact," she says, building to a crescendo, "that even a small group of articulate, informed, and unafraid Republican voters can have when they remind Republican elected officials that Republican voters are among those demanding enforcement of environmental protection laws, demanding better energy policies, demanding strong protection of our public lands." She pauses for dramatic effect. "So don't give up on the GOP. It's not only liberals and watermelons and wackos who care about the environment." The audience hoots in agreement: They aren't wackos! Or liberals! And by golly, they're ready to go out and tell it to their elected representatives! It's all that Marks could hope for. Winging it now, she smiles and raises her voice to be heard. "Pollution is not a family value! Thank you!"
