Sierra Club thwarts takeover

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sierra Club leaders beat back an effort by an anti-immigration faction to gain control of the influential environmental group. In elections for the 15-member board of directors, candidates picked by the leadership won all five open seats in a landslide, according to vote tallies released yesterday.

At stake was the Sierra Club's policy on immigration -- a politically charged issue many club leaders have been reluctant to address.

An increasingly vocal faction of the San Francisco-based Sierra Club that advocates a tougher stance on immigration ran its own slate of candidates, calling US population growth the greatest danger to the environment. Sierra Club leaders had warned that anti-immigration advocates were trying to take over the organization and its $100 million annual budget.