Tim Bishop Named Among 'America's Greenest Politicians'

The Daily Beast ranked the biggest advocates for the environment among U.S. politicians this week, and the First Congressional District's Rep. Tim Bishop came in at number 14.

The Southampton Democrat and five-term incumbent came in one spot ahead of 2004 presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry and two spots ahead of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Rep. Raul Grijalva, of Arizona, topped the list.

The Daily Beast explained the criteria used to rate the politicos, starting with looking at who received a 97 rating or better in the most recent annual scoring by the League of Conservation Voters; Bishop had a rating of 100.

Next, The Daily Beast considered how much money the politicians are receiving in donations from the oil, gas and mining industries, and how much in contributions is coming from "green" interests, in environmental policy and alternate energy.

"These donation dollars were calculated as a percentage of each politician’s total donations over the most recent term-period (six years for senators, two years for representatives), with data from the Center for Responsive Politics and Maplight," explains The Daily Beast's Clark Merrefield. "Finally, we added bonus points for politicians who are members of environmental caucuses."

The Daily Beast notes that Bishop belongs to the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucuses; House Oceans Caucus.

According to The Daily Beast's numbers, Bishop had $2.6 million in campaign contributions, with $0 from mining, $3,500 from oil and gas, $5,000 from alternative energy and $19,972 from environmental policy groups.