Monday, January 11, 2016
The deadline for candidates to get on the Vermont ballot was 5 p.m. Monday. Candidates needed 1,000 Vermont voters’ signatures and $2,000 to qualify.
The Secretary of State’s Office counts the number of signatures up to 1,000 and looks for any obvious signs of fraud, Secretary of State Jim Condos said. But state law doesn’t allow it to scrutinize every signature unless someone challenges a petition.
All three of the nationally known Democratic candidates filed petitions to be on the Vermont ballot: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley. O'Malley's petition came in Monday morning, Condos said.
Tags: Senator , Jeb Bush , Ben Carson , Chris Christie , Ted Cruz , Carly Fiorina , John Kasich , Rand Paul , Marco Rubio , Rick Santorum , Donald Trump , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton Martin O'Malley , Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente , presidential campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
There, in the historic parlors of the house now owned by Bob Invancic and Dan Dixon, Jericho Democrats gathered to hear from gubernatorial candidates Matt Dunne and Sue Minter and lieutenant governor candidates Kesha Ram and David Zuckerman.
More than 100 people gave up watching the Packers-Redskins football playoff game to head out on a rainy Sunday night to sip wine and study up on which candidates they’ll choose in a primary that’s seven months away.
“This is the way it works,” Gaye Symington, a former House speaker and 2008 Democratic gubernatorial candidate who helped organize the forum, told the crowd.
Symington meant that in living rooms, town halls and farmers markets across the state, voters such as these will interrogate candidates and weed their way through their differences.
Tags: cannabis related , Gaye Symington , Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Vermont Democratic Party , Image , Web Only
Thursday, January 7, 2016
For the past five years, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott has joined his Republican colleagues in the legislature to offer reaction to the State of the State speech by Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin — but not this year.
Instead Scott, who aspires to deliver the State of the State address next year as governor, sat down in front of a camera at his gubernatorial campaign headquarters and offered his own assessment of Vermont's health. And in a contrived second segment of this live stream, he answered questions posed by a "moderator." As Scott fielded questions on his leadership style, finances and property taxes, four women — campaign volunteers — seated at tables behind him kept their eyes glued to their computer screens.
"Vermonters expect and deserve a renewed focus on making Vermont affordable," Scott declared in his opening statement. In gentle jabs at the party in power, he suggested that the legislature and governor had been overly optimistic about revenues for the past five years. The result: budgets to operate state government that spent more money than was available.
"I'm frugal," Scott declared. Such fiscal prudence was the signature characteristic of his response to the governor: "I won't sign or propose a budget that grows faster than the previous year's."
Tags: Bruce Lisman , cannabis related , Matt Dunne , Peter Shumlin , Phil Scott , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
Not so, says Mary Gill-Warren, a 47-year-old Shoreham dairy farmer.
“There’s a lot more supporters for him than people realize,” Gill-Warren said.
She, her husband and some friends are planning to attend Trump’s rally Thursday night at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in Burlington. While much of the attention about Trump’s visit has focused on Trump opponents’ plans to protest, some Vermonters are also eager to hear a candidate who they praise for speaking his mind.
Patti Williams of Hardwick hopes to attend with her husband, her son and his girlfriend. Williams said she hasn’t made up her mind about which candidate she’s supporting, but Trump is in the mix.
“I don’t know if he’s the answer, but I don’t know if he’s not,” she said.
Tags: Senator , Donald Trump , Bernie Sanders , Phil Scott , Jim Douglas , Vermont Republican Party , Hillary Clinton , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Precisely on schedule, Vermont’s liberal social media sites went into warp drive. As their apoplexy subsided, local progressives began brainstorming suitable responses to the billionaire blowhard, including a petition drive calling on the Flynn to cancel the event. Thankfully, the petition was yanked long before its self-evident hypocrisy sparked an embarrassing lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
Since then, other lefty calls to public action have appeared, most of which have sounded about as moving as a laxative ad. To paraphrase a few:
Get a free ticket to the Trump rally, then refuse to show up — gasp! — thereby leaving the theater half empty. Because nothing cows unbridled tyranny like a row of vacant seats and short lines for the toilets.
Tags: Donald Trump , Flynn Center for the Performing Arts , Image , Web Only
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has given out more than 18,000 free tickets for his appearance Thursday night at the 1,400-seat Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said Wednesday.
Del Pozo said that the large gap between tickets issued and seats available is a problem.
“We’re working with the campaign to see what their plans are to accommodate people who don’t have tickets,” del Pozo said. As of Wednesday afternoon, the campaign had not offered any indication it had any such plans. The city has no plans to cancel the event, del Pozo said.
Asked if Trump’s campaign had been cooperative in planning for the overflow, del Pozo said, “They’re cooperative when it comes to a safe event inside the Flynn. They consider what happens outside the theater as the province of police and public safety agencies rather than the campaign.”
The city is planning to close streets around the Flynn and bring in extra patrols in response both to the possible overflow of attendees and to planned protests. Del Pozo said lower Church Street between Main and King streets will be closed to traffic and parking starting at noon Thursday.
Main Street from Church to St. Paul Streets will be closed to traffic and parking starting at 1 p.m., he said. Protesters plan a rally at City Hall Park and a vigil at St. Paul and Main streets in response to Trump’s 7 p.m. appearance at the Flynn.
Tags: Donald Trump , Brandon del Pozo , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Monday, January 4, 2016
One was arguing that Killacky shouldn’t have agreed to rent the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign for a rally Thursday night. The other defended Killacky’s argument that the Flynn stands for free speech.
“I laughed,” Killacky said. “I haven’t taken it personally.”
It’s been a whirlwind few days for Killacky, and for Vermonters, since the New Year’s Eve announcement that the Flynn will host the bombastic Trump. The controversial candidate has rented the hall and its 1,000 seats (sans balcony) for $3,300, plus personnel expenses.
In email exchanges, on Facebook feeds and via phone calls, Trump opponents around Vermont are in a fury over how to respond to a candidate who has called for banning all Muslim immigrants and regularly disses just about everybody.
Tags: Senator , Donald Trump , Bernie Sanders , Peter Shumlin , Flynn Center for the Performing Arts , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Now, with the February Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary drawing near, Sanders’ campaign is trying to drive home the message that it very much expects to have a robust life after New Hampshire.
Sanders announced Tuesday that his campaign has launched a television ad in Nevada, home to the third-in-the-nation presidential vote February 20. Sanders also plans campaign stops next week in Reno and Las Vegas, the campaign announced.
In a press release, his campaign said, “The new Nevada effort signals that Sanders is building on the foundation he has laid for taking his campaign beyond Iowa and New Hampshire.”
The ad, titled “Real Change,” is the same 60-second introduction to Sanders he aired earlier in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Weaver, in the press release, said airing the ad in Iowa is proof that Sanders has the resources to wage a national campaign: “We look forward to expanding Bernie's campaign on the ground and in the airwaves in many more states in the days and weeks ahead.”
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Monday, December 21, 2015
Lisman is the first candidate for governor to release his assets. Some other states require candidates to release specific information, but Vermont does not. While most past candidates for governor have volunteered the information, there’s never been a standard for what should be released.
As founder of the public-policy group Campaign for Vermont, Lisman advocated for requiring the release of information to allow voters to gauge whether a candidate has any conflicts of interest. Monday, he urged other Vermont candidates for governor to follow his lead. “I think this sets a pretty good standard,” Lisman said.
Lisman is competing for the 2016 Republican nomination against Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, while Matt Dunne and Sue Minter are vying for the Democratic nomination. Dunne’s campaign manager, Nick Charyk, said Dunne will release his information May 15 to match congressional candidates’ timing, or sooner if there is a clamor for it. Brittney Wilson of Scott's campaign said he'll release his assets after he files his taxes for 2015. Sarah McCall of Minter's campaign said she will do the same.
Tags: Bruce Lisman , Phil Scott , Peter Shumlin , Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Vermont politics , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Rep. Carolyn Branagan (R-Georgia) had heard enough from presidential candidate Donald Trump by Tuesday morning.
Branagan, who's served in the state legislature for 13 years, fired off an email to state Republican leaders calling on them to publicly denounce Trump after he pronounced that the United States should block all Muslims from entering the country. “Please make a statement to the press on behalf of Vermont Republicans that we do not support him or this comment and please point out that his comment is against everything America stands for,” Branagan said. “He is damaging to all Republicans.”
Rep. Patti Komline (R-Dorset) took to Facebook to offer a similar condemnation. She called Trump “a megalomaniacal, racist, misogenyst [sic] who needs to go.”
Komline said that if the 2016 presidential race comes down to Trump vs. Bernie Sanders as the Democratic nominee, "I would probably be a Bernie supporter."
By day's end Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican candidate for governor, came out firing at Trump too. He tweeted: "Real leaders don't reject American values, incite anger or exploit fear for political gain."
"I've been kind of fuming about this all day," Scott said by phone. "We have to speak up and tell our supporters and other that this is inappropriate."
Tags: Donald Trump , Vermont Republican Party , Carolyn Branagan , Patti Komline , David Sunderland , Image , Web Only