The Messenger followed-up today with Tayt Brooks’ response to Ms. Monroe’s closing questions. Unfortunately, neither article is available online at present; but suffice it to say that Brooks simply doubled-down on the misrepresentations made in the mailer. He had no response to the question concerning Kathy Keenan.
Either Mr. Brooks has caught some related strain of Romnesia that renders him incapable of telling the simple truth even when it has been incontrovertibly stated; or he is simply too unsophisticated to follow both the workings of the Legislature and the manner in which property tax is administered in Vermont.
Whichever the case, we have to conclude that Lenore has bought herself a lemon.
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You may recall the shenanigans last August when the Franklin County Republican Primary was at hand, and the candidacy of businessman Joe Sinagra fell victim to what appeared to be a smear campaign from within the party ranks. It is therefore unsurprising that the dirty tricks did not end with that primary.
Tuesday’s St. Albans Messenger carried an excellent front-page expose by Michelle Monroe on the ham-handed attempts by Vermonters First to spread false information about some of Franklin County’s Democratic candidates; and it seems that, this time, even a prominent Franklin County Republican is crying foul.
Our story begins with some of those infamous mailers from Vermonters First, urging voters to withhold their support from Democratic Senatorial candidates Don Collins (Swanton) and Caroline Bright (Georgia.)
The mailer claims Democrats now want to “push through the largest tax increase in state history. And they voted to keep it a secret from us. They want to raise taxes on day care centers, dentists, barbers, carpenters, doctors and plumbers.”
Pretty scary stuff; and patently untrue according to Republican Carolyn Branagan (Georgia):
“What people have told me face-to-face…is there is no chance of expanding that sales tax to services. Not going to happen.”
The mailer goes on to distort the impact of Legislative changes to the property tax structure, suggesting that they were part of the supposed plan by Democrats to “push through” that huge tax increase. In actual fact, the measures enjoyed bipartisan support and had nothing like the impact alleged by Vermonters First, even resulting in property tax reductions for a couple of towns.
The Messenger article concludes with a look at the mailer sent specifically to St. Albans City residents, which also targeted first-time Democratic House candidate, Mike McCarthy, but curiously omitted longtime Democratic Rep., Kathy Keenan.
As Ms. Monroe notes, Rep. Keenan joined Franklin County Republicans, Branagan, Chuck Pearce (Highgate) and Peter Perley (Enosburg) in supporting H.436, one of the two bills the mailer specifically blamed for the supposed tax hike.
At press time, Vermonters First custodian, Tayt Brooks, had not yet responded to Ms. Monroe’s questions:
…why Keenan was not listed with other Democrats as a candidate “we can’t afford;” what evidence Vermonters First has of a Democratic plan to tax services; and how, given the variable impact of the increase in the base education tax rate, increases in that rate can be presented to voters as a tax increase.
‘Looks like the Tayter is once more in the soup.
Congratulations to the Messenger and particularly to Michelle Monroe for committing this act of actual journalism, and for getting Carolyn Branagan on the record refuting Tayter’s distortions. Branagan, the Republican Rep. from the town of Georgia, also deserves respect for publicly refusing to go along with this brand of Republican/Tea Party extremism.
Dustin Degree, the one-term representative (for whose seat Democrat Mike McCarthy is running) now running for state senate, is not mentioned in the story, but it turns out that Degree voted against the school funding formula adjustment, keeping him safely within the Tea Party fold.
One caution to the Tayter: I don’t recommend going after Branagan for telling the truth. It’s not like the R’s have a lot of potential candidates waiting in the wings, and Carolyn has the experience, the campaign skills, and the support of folks on both sides of the aisle in her district and elsewhere.
NanuqFC
We now know that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob. ~ FDR
If Vermont First says it, then the opposite is true?
…that because Vermonters First is doing such a terrible job and is viewed even by conservative folks as taking things too far, I think they may have helped candidates like me by putting our names on their “We can’t afford (insert legislator here) postcard.
-Mike McCarthy
After all, she was the money behind True North Radio, featuring the charmless Paul Beaudry. And she funds the website True North Reports, headed by the gormless Rob Roper. And she provides at least part of the funding for the Ethan Allen Institute and its low-wattage leading light, El Jefe General John McClaughry.
By God, I do believe Tayt Brooks is the most distinguished member of Lenore’s little posse. There’s a sad statement.