Like the Free Press and Times Argus, The St. Albans Messenger gave its endorsement to Vince Illuzzi for Auditor.

While this comes as no special surprise, the rationale presented by Emerson Lynn in framing the endorsement certainly is.

Mr. Lynn maintains that Doug Hoffer is the more political of the two!  That’s right; that’s how it looks from where he stands.

…Doug Hoffer carries the banner for both the Progressive Party and the Democratic Party.  His a self-described “numbers man,” something Mr. Illuzzi is not.  But the key difference between the two is that Mr. Hoffer’s political biases are already established and well known.

He makes two representations about Illuzzi vs. Hoffer that are particularly far off the mark, calling Vince Illuzzi “his own man” and suggesting that Mr. Hoffer might need a

“tutorial in terms of what the issues are and what needs auditing and what doesn’t.”

He concludes the endorsement  with a reference to Mr. Illuzzi’s sketchy ethics history:

…Mr. Illuzzi, a lawyer, has had his license suspended for ethical violations (in) 1993 and he did not have his license restored until 1998.  He’s also not shy to find the political spotlight and rush to its center.

Does this sound like a man who should be entrusted with the sober work of the auditor’s office?

I could not resist sending a letter in response:

Emerson Lynn’s rationale for supporting Vince Illuzzi over Doug Hoffer for Auditor makes no sense to me.

He seems to think that Senator Illuzzi, a career politician, is the a-political candidate; whereas it is Doug Hoffer who has never sought any other political office and is interested only in serving as Auditor.

Senator Illuzzi’s interest in the office is, in fact, so politically driven that he couldn’t even decide which political office he wanted to run for, AG or Auditor, until what amounted to the last minute. He was even rumored to have been considering running for Governor, which remains an option for the future.

And that is precisely my point.  Senator. Illuzzi’s run for the Auditor’s office is a a strategy to better position himself for a run for higher office.  This is a perfectly legitimate strategy and I am not writing to criticize Mr. Illuzzi or his motives.

I just think that, for the Auditor’s office to function as it was intended to, the office-holder should not be distracted from its legitimate focus by the need to think strategically about personal political ambitions.

Mr. Illuzzi has done a fine job of representing his district in the Senate; and his reputation for working across the aisle is a testament to his talent for negotiation and political strategy.  The Auditor’s office is not well-served by these talents.

Mr. Lynn seems to think that Mr. Hoffer’s candor about his views makes him somehow more “political.”  But I would say that it only makes him that much more transparent than is Senator Illuzzi, who comes away from the Statehouse as a master of the hidden agenda.

Anyone who is familiar with Doug Hoffer’s work over the years knows that he is a disciplined policy analyst who scrupulously adheres to the highest principles of honesty and fairness.  Absolutely no one could better serve Vermont as Auditor than Doug Hoffer.