A few days ago I posted about having noticed a Dubie for Governor poster attached to a truck doing road construction in Brattleboro.

This time I have pictures:

We’d already figured that this was a truck involved in receiving state funds.  It’s also a company that’s a Dubie donor.

(update: I forgot to provide the link demonstrating that they receive state funds.  Here’s a link to one of the bid results from the AOT website itself.  I  think this is for the same contract that they’re doing currently, but they were the winning bidders on multiple other contracts as well.)

In March, 7 Days reported on a Dubie birthday bash.  One company in particular stands out in terms of donations:

Deb Ricker not only gave $2000 personally, but two of her companies – L&D Safety Marking Company and WorkSafe Traffic Control Industries – also pitched in $2000 apiece. Maybe a birthday hat in the shape of a safety cone?

What’s on the side of this truck?

I don’t know enough about how trucks are marked and labeled.  I didn’t get its license plate, but I did get this:

I want to be clear about something: while I am somewhat concerned about someone who receives contracts for state work donating large sums of money to candidates for Governor, I am deeply concerned about someone using the support they get from the state as an opportunity to advertise for a candidate for Governor.  

In my years of working as a state contractor, doing presentations across the state, I never used that opportunity to advocate for candidates.  I would never have dreamt of wearing a Clavelle or Parker t-shirt when presenting in the public on behalf of the state of Vermont.  I wouldn’t even put campaign buttons on my laptop case.  Similarly, when I teach for the Vermont State College system, I do not advocate for candidates to my students.  I even had a perfect lesson to use with my students about plagiarism in the form of the Martha Rainville campaign that would have fit perfectly with an existing lesson plan, but I chose to avoid that specific issue because it would have been inappropriate to bring a specific political campaign into the mix.  

So while I don’t have any problem with this company receiving contracts from the state of Vermont.  Assuming their work is of good quality and they’re being paid appropriate for the services they render (and I see no reason to assume otherwise), that part is fine.

The other part should be easy to understand.  This is a company which has maxed out its donations to Brian Dubie, but is, additionally, providing an in-kind donation by using its truck fleet to advertise for him while doing work on behalf of the state.

This is unacceptable.  It needs to stop.