Update: Terje was kind enough to correct my mistake. The list I have linked to was incomplete and the Secretary of State will have an updated list and should have 2 Democratic candidates represented in Chittenden 6-3. My bad.
Vermont Digger finally has the complete list of candidates who have filed to run for office in Vermont. I happened to notice that for the two seats in Chittenden 6-3, represented now by Jill Krowinski and Jason Lorber, has 4 candidates, 2 Progressives, 1 Independent and 1 Democrat. Krowinski is running for reelection. Lorber is not. It was mentioned in the Seven Days blog, Blurt on June 8th, about a week before the filing deadline.
I was surprised that the Dems hadn't filed two candidates for this district because they pretty much have a lock on it at the state level. However, with Lorber's late announcement, either no one was interested or the local Dems were caught unexpectedly by Lorber's announcement. I would think that Lorber would have had the foresight to tell local Democratic leaders that he wouldn't run again so that they could have time to draft somebody else to run and get the necessary signatures to run for the seat, and would have had a good chance at being elected, considering Obama is at the top of the ticket this November.
The Democrats aren't in any danger of losing control of the Vermont House this November, but carelessness like this, combined with the not giving a damn about his House seat Lorber, does them no favors as well. I thinks it is akin to shooting yourself in the foot for no reason whatsoever. One must concede that a Progressive would have a very similar voting record to a Democrat, if not even more leftist at that, but I think this is a stupid mistake to make under any circumstances. It might be more Lorber's fault or the local Dems, I'm not sure, but it would be nice if they paid more attention to such details. The only way to remedy it would be to draft somebody as a write-in, although that would be hard to do. If anyone can shed light on this issue and why such a mistake took place, I would be glad to know and be enlightened about it.
The list that Vt Digger published is not the final official list – it is an incomplete list released by the Secretary of State’s office on Thursday night, pending additional information.
House candidates don’t file directly with the Secretary of State’s office, they file with the town clerk’s office of the largest town in their district. The clerk then faxes the forms to the SoS office. Sometimes there is a delay in this.
My understanding is that there is another Democratic candidate for the seat – Curt McCormack. Curt served in the legislature (representing Rutland) in the 1980s and was a great progressive Democratic voice. He moved to Burlington after he came back to Vermont from a Peace Corps stint. He’ll make a great candidate and a great state rep.
Curt announced almost immediately after Lorber’s announcement.
http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2012…
Jim Condos promises that the final candidate list will get posted either Saturday or Sunday.
It confirms that Curt McCormack did, in fact, fill for the seat.