Former Times environmental reporter John H. Cushman, Jr., now a Times editor, reports the ching-a-ling of cash registers at major environmental organizations in the wake of Republican election victories on November 5. Donors hurt by shrinking stock portfolios “were calling to refresh pledges,” he reports. Environmentalists “are certainly going to need more money to fight the defensive battle they see coming in Congress.” He quotes Phil Clapp, of the National Environmental Trust, as predicting major donors “are going to be just as deeply concerned” as they were with the rise of the Newt Gingrich-led House of Representatives in the mid-90s. Cushman says the ebb and flow of money for environmentalists is similar to that facing abortion or gun control advocates depending on who’s in and who’s out in the power halls of Washington, D.C. Cushman points to Senator Imhofe (see above) and Rep. Tom Delay (R-Tx), the incoming House majority leader, as particular symbols. Cushman reports major foundation funding fall-offs from the Turner Foundation and from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, both strapped by recent stock market and financial problems. (His piece does not mention the demise in 2002 of another former foundation deep-pocket for environmentalists, the W. Alton Jones Foundation in Charlottesville, Va.)