(This doesn’t convince me but I can see how it might convince some.  Thanks for the effort. – promoted by JulieWaters)

Peter Shumlin

by Ed Weissman, Dorset

I support Peter Shumlin for Governor.  I’m telling you why.  This is written, in part, to persuade Julie Waters to come to a decision and vote for Peter.

We have a fine slate of candidates in the Democratic primary for Governor.  As I recently wrote in the Rutland Herald, this primary cries out for approval voting in which voters can for as many of the candidates of whom they “approve.”  At the end of the day (next Tuesday, in fact), only one of the five can be the candidate for Governor.  It should be Peter.

It was Peter as Senate President and House Speaker Shap Smith who made it all but impossible for Governor Douglas to run again.  They did so with what was, in effect, a double vote of non-confidence.   Of course, Vermont doesn’t have a parliamentary system though it should.  But the successful votes to override Douglas’ vetoes of marriage equality and the budget put Jim Douglas on notice that he could not continue to govern.  

Douglas’ veto of marriage equality ignored Vermont’s DNA which began with equality.  On the budget, Douglas could no longer deliver the lower taxes and regulatory wiggle room that his big bucks supporters wanted.  

Marriage equality may well be a “motherhood” issue for most Democrats and some Republicans, but it was Peter, and only Peter, who moved the issue from the back of the bus to the front of the queue.

That is leadership, that is governing, that is more revealing than a thousand sound bites and a flurry of focus groups.

With Douglas out, the Republicans have the Brian Dubie.  Brian has money mainly because he can draw on the resources of the anti-choice, theocratic and homophobic religious right.  Like Western European Communists during the Cold War, Brian won’t talk about his hidden agenda.  They denied being puppets of the Kremlin.  He doesn’t talk of the “family values” crowd who pulls his strings.

This election will focus on two Brian Dubies, the one you see and the one you don’t see.  Peter has the skills to force both of them out in the open.  Who is Brian Dubie?  For me, he’s a dumbed-down Isaac Tichenor. Tichenor is the “Jersey slick” (so-named be Ethan Allen) lawyer who rode into office in Vermont on the heels of the repressions of the Alien and Sedition Acts of the 1790’s.  What else does Brian Dubie have to offer.  He can fly a plane!  He can drive a car!!  He can, on occasion, walk upright.  

Peter is the only candidate who has shown he can deliver, in fact and with courage.  He check-mated Douglas out of office.  He can deliver a vibrant sustainable economy, 21st century communications and energy.  He understands that water, and preserving what we have in Vermont, will be a central issue in the next years.  The issue is government that works.  Peter Shumlin knows how that is done.

Watch Peter govern.  See him campaign.  Listen to him speak.  Peter Shumlin delivers.