Not yet uploaded on the ‘St. Albans Messenger’ website is Michelle Monroe’s great piece on the ‘Vermonters First’ attack mailings. She went right to the horses mouth(?) by e-mailing a list of questions to which Mr. Brooks responded.
Asked about why other legislators in Franklin County who also voted in favor…were not targeted, Brooks replied, “These mail pieces weren’t sent to every legislator’s residents because the total cost… would have been too high.”
Yeah…right.
It is an excellent, detailed and balanced article that gives both parties ample opportunity to explain themselves. The end result is that McCarthy comes off looking great, while Brooks shows himself to be the opportunistic shill we know so well.
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‘Looks like the elusive queen of money politics in Vermont, Lenore Broughton, is lobbing poison apples once again.
Thursday’s mail delivery in St. Albans brought a brand new attack circular against Democratic Rep. Mike McCarthy, replete with the usual gaudy graphics and poor design value that “Paid for by Vermonters First” has come to signify.
This one was labelled “Official Citizen’s Petition,” and comes with a tear-off card addressed to Mr. McCarthy at a St. Albans address on Lake Street (?)
“Official,” is it? Maybe I’d have been more impressed if it came with a decoder ring.
The mailer is predictably laced with hyperbolic fantasy about how Mike’s rather mainstream votes mean the end of life as we know it in Vermont:
Mike McCarthy’s taxing spree will mean another pay-cut for you and your family…You’ll have less money to pay college tuition, you’ll have to work longer until you can retire, and you’ll have less to spend on vacation.
Wow! That’s a lot for one guy to have done in barely three months at the State House.
It’s obviously an ill-fitting generic product that “Vermonters First” has re-purposed as an extremely early ice-breaker for the 2014 election; but it wasn’t well-received by one City resident, who posted an irritated query on Front Porch Forum asking ‘why now?’…and whose money is behind Vermonters First?
The writer guessed correctly that it was not local money.
As a Front Porch Forum participant myself, I was only too happy to provide some background.
I see that Mike posted his own reply to the querying neighbor, which was gracefully expressed and appropriately focussed on the facts relevant to his votes. He invited his constituents to contact him directly to discuss anything that might concern them.
Nicely handled, Mike!
Ms. Broughton’s unseasonable interest in St. Albans provides for entertaining speculation.
Since Tayt Brooks is still presumably wielding her checkbook, perhaps his buddy, Republican Casey Toof, who lost to Mike in 2012, thinks that if he gets a headstart on attack ads more than a year in advance, he might still see the inside of the State House. Or maybe Mr. Brooks has aspirations of his own?
Somehow, I think voters here in St. Albans will not appreciate being harassed with unsolicited mailers almost a year out from the election.
Perhaps Vermonters First ought to try a few robo-calls just to get the ball rolling.
Yeah, I got one too. Only mine bashed Dave Potter’s wild spending and horrible actions raising taxes. I felt like sending him the tear-off card with words of support, but I didn’t want to spend the money for a stamp. Yup, it wasn’t postage-paid.
Same old stuff that squandered a million Broughton Bucks in 2012, and now he’s at it again.
Like I said before, if Lenore Broughton was really devoted to free-market principles, she would have fired this loser on November 6. Instead, it’s the classic definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.
So many dem runners to bloody – so little time.
I think Lisman is unofficially running for guv so perhaps they are picking off the easier targets first.
In a recent Herald op-ed Broughton was once again mentioned-don’t remember exactly what, “True North” propaganda machine I think, but they zeroed in on the sneaky surreptitious nature of her activities by shining a very bright spotlight last election cycle – at least a couple of op-eds, on her slithering so it will not be quite as easy to hide this election cycle.
If VT MSM does it’s due, all stories would contain “Ms. Broughton could not be reached for comment”…after hearing this repeatededly I’m sure more voters would pick up this striking similarity.
Bring on the mysterious robo-calls! That will assuredly get the electorate riled or better, asking the right questions.
…my friend’s tax hike will not take enough money out of Ms Richierich’s pockets to stop her from spending money on bullshit.