(With apologies for the Eighties Earworm.)
It’s Deadline Day for Vermont candidates. And given the one-sidedness of our politics these days, this might be one of the more exciting days of the whole campaign season — including Election Day. Among the questions hanging fire:
— Will Scott Milne file as a Republican candidate for Governor? Will the alleged mystery Republican step up? Or will the party be forced into an embarrassing write-in campaign to keep Emily Peyton from grabbing the top spot on their ticket?
— Will anybody file for the Republican nomination for Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, or Treasurer? We’re not expecting any actual Republicans, but I’m still hoping for a gadfly or two. (Probably the first, and only, time I’ll ever be rooting for Annette Smith.)
— Will Shap Smith run for re-election? He has yet to file, and at last check was still wrestling with the decision. (Having apparently collected petition signatures in case he decides to run.)
— Will there be any more surprise candidates and/or stealth candidates for the legislature, a la Roger Allbee?
— Will John Bauer join Dean Corren in qualifying for public financing? The Progressive Corren says he has done so; Bauer’s closing in, but still needs a last-minute burst of donations before 5 p.m. today. (Link to online donation option at his campaign website.)
In Other News, Phil Scott is being a dick about public financing.
I guess he’s uncomfortable with the prospect of facing financially competitive challengers for a change. Paul “The Huntsman” Heintz reports that Scott recently sent a red-meat fundraising pitch including this passage:
Whoever I end up running against will have a very formidable organization supporting them, with at least two of them seeking to use up to $200,000 of your tax dollars, known as ‘public financing,’ to fund their campaign.
When Heintz asked Everybody’s Buddy to elaborate, he was happy to do so:
“My reaction is that it’s just taking money from those that may not support you, and I just have a hard time wrapping my arms around that,” he said. “When I think of $200,000, I think of 5,000 or 6,000 potholes. I think of three or four [Department of Children and Families] folks that might be able to be out in the field. I just think there are better ways to spend taxpayer money than in a campaign.”
Dick.
Stay tuned for updates during the day and this evening!
Phil Scott may have to work harder for it this time around. Vtdigger.com has a handy list of his big 2012 supporters. Below is a list with some I selected. Check out the whole list of who ponied up to keep him in the race and/or at the races.
http://vtdigger.org/2012/08/19…
Sort of transforms him from the inoffensive man of the people vibe he puts out.
Public financing is the ONLY way that democracy will be restored in this country.
Of course, the model I favor would eliminate private and personal funding, make the airwaves and internet provide free and limited access for all qualifying candidates; and it would cost the taxpayers a tiny fraction of what is spent on elections now, while also sparing them all the pork that successful national candidates are typically expected to “deliver” to their special interest funders.
…the Liberty Union Party? I’d like to see a WRITE ME/YOU IN PARTY. Also, I think this year’s Republican ticket should include a ‘Pie Me’ candidate.
Milne? Who in Vermont, tell me, knows his name? They should run Brock and the ‘losers’ of yesteryear. They’d get more votes. Hell, Larry, Darryl & Darryl could beat their ticket forming up.
GMD should form a Party. Got a Daisy and out-polled the Republicans.
http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…
http://blogs.burlingtonfreepre…