If you got all your election news from WCAX-TV, you wouldn’t know that Vermonter (Lenore Broughton) First was super-funding the candidacy of Wendy Wilton. You’d know little or nothing about the Super PAC she has lavishly funded — to the tune of at least $800,000 so far. You’d know virtually nothing about Broughton, and you probably wouldn’t have heard the name “Tayt Brooks” (International Man of Mystery) at all.

That’s because the state’s most watched TV news service has almost completely ignored the subject. The only event that focused substantial airtime on Broughton or Vermonter First was a small protest outside her Burlington home. A protest which has been faithfully recounted whenever WCAX mentions Broughton — which is almost never.

Let’s take you back to October 11, the day of that protest. The lead-in to the WCAX story read as follows:

Vermont has seen the rise of local Super PACs during this election season, pushing political messages with radio and TV ads. But one big Super PAC donor got a message at her home today, from dozens of protesters. Gina Bullard was there.

Pardon me. “Dozens”? Other media estimates of the “crowd” ranged from 15 to 20. WCAX’s own footage shows the group posing on Henry Street in front of Broughton’s home; I counted 17 in the shot.

“Dozens”?

After the jump: WCAX ignores the political surprise of the year, and airs a completely pointless report on petition signatures.

The rest of the story shows the protesters ambling down Henry Street and standing around, chatting amiably. Protest organizer Peter Sterling is seen walking onto Broughton’s porch and delivering a note — the only time anyone visibly set foot onto Broughton’s property. The focus of the entire piece is about the protest’s Henry Street location, not the substance of its message.

That is the only time, as far as can be determined from the WCAX website, that the station has done a story of any length connected with Broughton or her Super PAC. The only other archived stories that mention Broughton or her Super PAC are brief text-only pieces about the mid-September and mid-October campaign finance reports. (Mid-September was when VF made its first public splash, reporting total donations of $100,000, plus “in-kind” donations of $34,000, all from Broughton. Mid-October was when we found out that Broughton’s generosity had reached the breathtaking level of $680,000.)

And the mid-October story is a real piece of work. Although the news is about Broughton’s $680,000, the story actually spends as much time rehashing the days-old Henry Street protest as it does on the actual NEWS. Here is the entire text:

A Burlington woman targeted by a campaign protest last week has continued to give generously to a Vermont super PAC — with contributions now topping 680-thousand dollars.



Protesters marched to Lenore Broughton’s home on Henry Street to voice their support for single-payer health care. Broughton is the primary benefactor of a super PAC called Vermonters First that has spent money on ads opposing a single-payer system. Vermonters First has also run ads in support of Republican candidates.
 


According to a campaign finance report released Monday, Vermonters First has raised $684,861 since forming, and Broughton has donated all but 23-hundred dollars of that amount.

That was October 16, and it was (again, as far as I can tell from WCAX’s website) the last time Broughton was named in a WCAX newscast. There has never been any mention of the link between Broughton, VF, and the richly-endowed candidacy of Wendy Wilton. Which maybe shouldn’t be too surprising, since a lot of Broughton’s money has gone into the coffers of WCAX to pay for endless ads for Wilton. And as often as not, if you watch a news video on WCAX.com, it’s preceded by a VF ad for Wilton.

I don’t think WCAX is corrupt. I do believe this is yet another sign of its ideological tilt to the right. And it reflects fundamentally flawed news judgment. Lenore Broughton has been the surprise story of the campaign, seemingly coming out of nowhere to break all pertinent records for money in Vermont politics. If that isn’t worth a story or two, then I don’t know what is.

And apparently WCAX also doesn’t know what is. Having completely failed to report on Broughton’s activities or those of her Super PAC, WCAX managed to produce and air one of the most worthless, meaningless pieces of alleged journalism it has ever been my misfortune to witness. On Thursday November 1, WCAX spent two and a half minutes (standard length for its “long” pieces) on a completely asinine exploration of something that apparently struck some news editor as questionable or scandalous: the fact that people (including prominent politicians) routinely sign a candidate’s petition when they have no intention of supporting that candidate.

I guess somebody thought this required exploration, when in fact it’s standard practice everywhere I’ve ever lived. Over the years, I’ve been asked to sign candidacy petitions by numerous people, and I’ve always signed. It’s not a promise to support a candidate; it’s just helping them get on the ballot. I’m generally in favor of broad ballot access, so I sign. Might make an exception for the LaRouchies, but anyone else is okay by me.

The story began with VT Dem chair Jake Perkinson being quizzed about the fact that he signed candidacy petitions for the two major candidates for Auditor: Dem/Prog Doug Hoffer and Republican Vince Illuzzi. WCAX had examined both candidates’ petition sheets and determined that yes, indeed, Perkinson had signed both. Somebody call the Pulitzer committee!

Here’s the crucial portion of Steimle’s interview with Perkinson, who remarkably managed to keep a straight face:

Reporter Susie Steimle: Did you sign Doug Hoffer’s petition?



Jake Perkinson: I don’t remember.



He did however sign Republican Vince Illuzzi’s petition for auditor — something he said he doesn’t regret. 



Reporter Susie Steimle: If you could go back to that day and sign the petition again would you? 



Jake Perkinson: Yes.

Good God. Steimle then reported the result of her investigation: “Signing a candidate’s petition doesn’t necessarily mean you support that candidate.” Wow.

But wait! There’s more!

Steimle also wasted a few minutes of Secretary of State Jim Condos’ time, asking him if it was surprising that some people might sign multiple petitions. As with Perkinson, Condos gets full marks for keeping a straight face when confronted with this ignorance of election law; he simply told Steimle that it was completely normal. In fact, he added, his own petitions included the signatures of top Republicans.

You see, Susie (and whatever idiot assigned this story), candidate petitions are a mere formality. And almost everyone is agreeable to sign, including a candidate’s political opponents. Indeed, considering that all those folks spend a lot of time together around the Statehouse, I imagine there’s a whole lot of mutually agreeable petition-signing.

This is how WCAX chose to spend its resources and airtime.

Lenore Broughton? Ehh, not so much.

p.s. If anyone at WCAX can point me to more coverage of Broughton or Vermonter(s) First, please do so in the Comments below. If I’m wrong, I’ll be glad to say so. I will also advise you to upgrade the “Search” function on your website.