The internal battle for the booby prize that is the Vermont Republican Party has reached truly insane levels. It’s kind of like two dumpster-divers fighting over a moldy bucket of KFC.

Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz has a lot of detail on the Off Message blog, and I’ve heard much of the same stuff from my own sources.  

Summing up the situation: The VTGOP may get stuck with the thoroughly inadequate John MacGovern as party chair because Mark Snelling and Phil Scott can’t stand each other.

The tangled story, per Heintz:

Both Snelling and Scott were trying to put together “compromise” slates for the party offices that will be filled on Saturday. Snelling, who was publicly certain that Jack Lindley would run for re-election as party chair, was privately constructing a ticket that didn’t include Angry Jack.

According to Heintz, Scott’s team included former State Rep. David Sunderland, a staunch conservative, for chair; attorney Brady Toensing (of the infamous conservative attack-dog law firm of DeGenova and Toensing) as vice chair; current interim party chair Deb Bucknam (also a staunch conservative) for Treasurer, and Jackie Barnett of Barre for secretary.

The Snelling/Taliban entry included Toensing as chairman, Sunderland as vice chair, and yep, Snelling remaining as party treasurer.

In his Wednesday evening email withdrawing from the race, Angry Jack split the difference, endorsing Toensing for vice chair — not chair — plus Barnett for secretary, Snelling for treasurer, and John MacGovern for chair. Why Toensing for vice chair, I’m not sure; the only rationale I can think of is that Lindley couldn’t stomach endorsing Sunderland for any office because he had Scott’s backing.

That seems awfully ugly, but feel free to tell me if I’m wrong.

But that’s not the worst part.  

The worst part is the crucial role played by the Scott/Snelling acrimony, which apparently dates from the 2010 Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor, in which Scott beat Snelling by a 56-44 margin. (Ouch.)

As Snelling tells it to Heintz, the hard feelings are all on Scott’s side:

According to Snelling, negotiations broke down, in part, because Scott’s faction insisted upon Snelling leaving the party’s leadership. Scott defeated Snelling in the 2010 Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

“It just appeared to me that Phil Scott was being vengeful about, ‘Hey, we ran against each other in a primary three years ago,'” Snelling says.

My sources put most of the onus on Snelling. And that makes the most sense, when you think about it: who would you expect to bear a grudge, the guy who won or the guy who lost? The guy who’s widely popular, or the one who utterly failed in his attempt to cash in on a renowned family name?

I’ve been told that the two competing sides could have agreed on a compromise ticket with Toensing at the top and Sunderland as number two, except for the office of Treasurer. The Snelling folks insisted on, yep, Mark Snelling. The Scott camp wanted somebody not named Mark Snelling. The compromise talks collapsed over that issue, leaving Lindley and Company with one option: backing the hapless MacGovern.

Maybe the most important political aspect of all this, is what it says about Phil Scott’s version of moderation. He was apparently okay with Brady Toensing as chair, he’s backing Deb Bucknam for a top office, and his own choice for chair, Sunderland, has a very conservative voting record.

So again I ask, exactly how is Phil Scott a moderate?  

One more note down the ballot. Remember Jeff Bartley, the failing-upward guy who harbored hopes of being the next party chair but couldn’t beat out John MacGovern? He’s pursuing a consolation prize, the currently dormant office of Chair of Chairs, which coordinates activity among the 14 County chairs.

But poor ol’ Bartleby appears to be all by his lonesome. Lindley has endorsed Kevin Beal, chair of the Washington County GOP (and director of alumni relations at Norwich University). From Beal’s statement of candidacy:

One of the most important opportunities which we as fellow County Chairs can work on throughout the next year is to improve communication between the state party leadership and county committees, and improve opportunities for shared, mutually beneficial ventures, like fundraisers and events. We must also work together to ensure all of our Vermont towns have organized.

With that said, I do not have an agenda. This position is an important one in that it is the foremost opportunity for the county chairs to have direct input in the highest-level decision-making for our party. The individual representing the county chairs should have a strong reputation-one who seeks to be above reproach, but not beyond scrutiny.

He’s making the right noises for a low-profile, party-building job. More so than the fail-prone Bartley. Not that any Republican will ask for my opinion.

Anyhow, should be a fun Saturday at the Elks Club. Maybe the VTGOP can buy a few scratch-off tickets while they’re there. Might be their best hope for raising a little money.