Guess I overestimated the stupidity of the Vermont Republican Party. In a rare flash of insight, the party faithful elected David Sunderland over John MacGovern for state party chair. Sunderland was the choice of Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, and MacGovern was the three-time loser whose last campaign is still in debt. But MacGoo had the backing of outgoing state party chair Jack Lindley, who’d rather leave the VTGOP in the hands of an incompetent than accede, even slightly, to Scott and his merry band of putative moderates. In the end, the tally was Sunderland 48, MacGoo 30.

On the other hand, Lindley’s right-hand-man (and anti-Scott attack dog) Mark Snelling was re-elected as party treasurer, edging out Deb Bucknam by two votes. Maybe in his second term, Snelling can figure out how to bring a little money into the cobwebbed coffers of the VTGOP. It should make for some interesting leadership meetings, at least.

VPR’s John Dillon interprets the Sunderland vote as a change of course:

Vermont Republicans chose to follow a moderate path with the election Saturday of former Rutland Town representative David Sunderland as party chairman.

Yeah, well, I wouldn’t go that far. Sunderland had a decidedly conservative voting record in his five-year stint as a State Rep from Rutland Town — a fact given the absolute minimum coverage by the state’s political media. And his speech to the delegates included a heapin’ helpin’ of Republican red meat:

“As your chair I will work diligently to bring our varying views together on the core issues that define our party: an affordable Vermont that works for our small businesses and families, efficient government that is by your side and not on your back, an education system that reins in spending and gives parents a seat at the decision table, and a health care system that enhances the doctor-patient relationship instead of destroying it.”

Let’s take those one at a time, shall we? “Affordable Vermont” is VTGOP-speak for “lower taxes.” “Efficient government” means “cut spending.”

“An education that… gives parents a seat at the decision table” is a curious statement. Parents already have a seat at the table. It’s called VOTING FOR SCHOOL BOARD and voting for school budgets. Besides that, there are few institutions more open to constituent input than public schools. Most teachers and administrators would love it if parents were more involved in their kids’ education.

Sunderland topped it off with a slam at health care reform, which he says is “destroying” the doctor-patient relationship. Hell, I thought the insurance companies had been doing a bang-up job of that under the old system.

So maybe Sunderland will be a better organizer than Lindley, but I don’t see much change in policy. I certainly don’t see any moderation. Methinks Dillon leaped to the shallowest, most obvious interpretation of events. And given that he’s now VPR’s chief journalist, that’s pretty damn sad.  

Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz did much better in his report for Seven Days’ Off Message blog:

A divided and politically marginalized Vermont Republican Party on Saturday chose a new leader who pledged to turn the state GOP’s attentions away from internal conflict and toward winning elections.

… “I think today what we can take away from this is that the Vermont Republican Party has voted for change – a change in direction, a change in tone, and we plan on going forward,” Sunderland said after the election.

The “change in direction” is less about policy than about turning “away from internal conflict.” (Which, again, will be a neat trick with Mark Snelling on the leadership team.) As for “change in tone,” that’s been said a lot lately by the Scott camp. It appears to mean putting a Phil Scott smiley face on doctrinaire conservatism, voicing criticism with more politeness and less overt vitriol, and blowing more quietly on the usual dog whistles.

I mean, how much did the VTGOP really change today? They’ve got a new party chair who, politically, isn’t much distinguishable from the old one. (If anyone out there can show me evidence of Sunderland’s “moderation,” I’d love to see it.) They’ve got the same old treasurer. And in the other two top offices, the winning candidates ran with the backing of both sides: Brady Toensing (of the conservative attack-dog law firm of DeGenova and Toensing) and Jackie Barnett.

Take a look at this, and tell me if there’s any real change in the VTGOP:

“We need to keep our disagreements inside our family,” said national committeeman Jay Shepard. “Our enemy is not in this room. As we sit here, the Democrats are planning another step in taking away our freedoms, our liberties and our way of life. Those are the people that are the real threat … We need to know who the real enemy is. I’ll tell you right now, the worst Republican I know is a much better person than Barack Obama.”

Yeah, that’s the angry face behind the smiley mask. The Democrats are supposedly stealing our freedoms and our way of life. They are “the real threat,” “the real enemy.” The worst Republican (Darrell Issa? Ted Cruz? Paul Broun? Michelle Bachmann? …no wait, Shepard doesn’t mean literally “worst,” he means “most moderate.” Never mind) is “a much better person than Barack Obama”?

Hey, John Dillon: could you explain exactly how this is a new, “moderate path”?