The Progressive and Democratic candidate said Monday she's been offered a job as legislative coordinator — or chief lobbyist — for the Vermont State Employees Association, which represents 5200 state workers.

"I've had an interview with them and they've said they want to bring me on, so now it's sitting there until after the election," Gekas said.

Gekas said she reached out to VSEA executive director Mark Mitchell last week upon learning that the union was hiring. During a job interview last Thursday, according to Gekas, "He said it's yours if you want it."

She added, "I don't know what their processes are like, but I can't do anything official because I want to see where the race turns out. That's where my energies are focused."

——— We now interrupt serious news coverage for something completely inconsequential. ———

A new ad released Monday morning by Republican state treasurer candidate Wendy Wilton features a familiar face — and voice.

Former governor Jim Douglas — himself a four-term state treasurer — narrates the ad and appears in it, telling voters that, "Wendy Wilton is a professional, non-political fiscal leader who is looking out for you."

The ad features footage of Wilton strolling with a mother and child and Wilton chattin' with the former governor; it closes with Wilton facing the camera, saying, "I'll provide total transparency for all our state finances online, and I'd appreciate your vote on Nov. 6th."

Douglas did not immediately return a call for comment Monday, but said in a statement released by the Wilton campaign that the Douglas and Wilton families have been friends for years.

Here's the ad:

Here's what's happening in Vermont news and politics this week, the final one before Election Day. Note that schedules are subject to change due to the looming Frankenstorm.

Got a newsworthy event for next week's calendar? Email us by Friday to submit.

Monday, October 29

• Hurricane Sandy is forecast to slam into Vermont today, packing 50-mph winds and several inches of rain. So before you do anything, take down your political lawn signs!
• "Charlie, Ernie and Lisa" nab a pair of political guests this morning on WVMT 620 AM. At 8:10 a.m., Democratic Attorney General Bill Sorrell steps up to the mic, and at 8:40 a.m., it's Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock.
• At noon, Brock is the guest on Vermont Public Radio's "Vermont Edition," and takes your phone calls. Listen live.
• At 5:25 p.m., the Ward 1 candidates vying to replace Ed Adrian on the Burlington City Council — Democrat Kevin Worden and Progressive Alison Segar — debate live on Channel 17 (CCTV). Stream it live.
• CANCELLED -- At 7 p.m., the Burlington City Council will take up a resolution by Councilor Vince Brennan (P-Ward 3) to hire an independent investigator (for as much as $10,000!) to review Burlington police conduct during the July 29 protest that ended in cops firing pepper-balls into a crowd of demonstrators.

Rest of the week after the jump...

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To be fair, the Rutland City treasurer never actually makes accusations. She just suggests things. Like, real nutty things.

The latest? That the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank put the city of Rutland on its internal "watch list" in June to screw with Wilton's campaign for state treasurer.

Quite improbably, the bond bank became a bit of a political football earlier this week when Wilton's opponent, State Treasurer Beth Pearce, noted in a debate on WDEV's The Mark Johnson Show that — unbeknownst to Wilton — Rutland had recently earned a place on the bank's "watch list" due to concerns about its unfunded pension liability. Pearce's fellow Democrat, Gov. Peter Shumlin, followed suit Wednesday when asked at a Burlington Free Press debate about the treasurer's race — bashing Wilton for Rutland's inclusion on the list.

That didn't sit well with the Rutland Republican.

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Take Gov. Peter Shumlin and his administration. Asked last week about the impact of super PACs on Vermont politics, the governor said, "I really feel strongly that candidates should raise and spend money and advocate for their own candidacy."

Was he disappointed that the liberal super PAC, Priorities PAC, has failed thus far to keep up in fundraising with the conservative super PAC, Vermonters First?

"I'll be honest with you. I wish all the PACs would dry up and go away," he said, speaking after a Winooski press conference. "In an ideal world, that's how we would do democracy in Vermont."

But just days later, Shumlin's own secretary of administration, Jeb Spaulding, was raising money for and recording a radio ad for the liberal super PAC. And according to Spaulding, he got the idea to collaborate with Priorities PAC from Shumlin's own campaign manager, Alex MacLean.

UPDATED BELOW with Brock’s public records request, which was filed Thursday morning with five state entities. The Shumlin administration says it will comply with the request, but notes that it is “enormous” and “will take significant time and resources.”

____________________

Sen. Randy Brock (R-Franklin) capped off the final debate of his gubernatorial campaign Wednesday with a peculiar question for Gov. Peter Shumlin:

"Gov. Shumlin, I'm told the state has spent thousands of dollars on settlements or claims ranging from discrimination to wrongful termination to sexual harassment involving state employees and officials," Brock said during the forum, which was sponsored by the Burlington Free Press. "I've also been told that the state has attempted to hide this misconduct by improperly insisting on confidentiality agreements as part of these settlements."

(You can watch the exchange at 1:07:30)

After citing Vermont's public records law, Brock got to his question: "Wouldn't you agree that these cases — especially when public money is involved — should not be kept secret from the public? And will you insist that your administration will open up these settlements whether litigation is involved or not so that the public can see where its money is spent?"

So what on earth was Brock talking about?

We asked him that after the debate, but he wouldn't say much — except that his campaign or someone close to it plans to file a public records request related to the question.

Dozens of political action committees — and two super PACs — filed mandatory fundraising reports with the Vermont Secretary of State's Office on October 15.

But not the Committee For Justice and Fairness — the super PAC whose $194,000 in advertising helped Attorney General Bill Sorrell beat back a primary challenge from Democrat T.J. Donovan this summer.

The D.C.-based super PAC did file its quarterly report with the Federal Election Commission this month, confirming that its funding came solely from the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA) — in two payments of $100,000 each — and went almost entirely to support Sorrell's bid for an eighth term in office.

According to Will Senning of the secretary of state's office, the super PAC is required by law to file that portion of its federal disclosure form that relates to spending in Vermont elections — in this case, almost all of it. But Senning said that as of Wednesday, his office had received nothing.

In this week's Tech Jam-celebrating issue of Seven Days, now available on your newsstands and your Internets... 

• Is it necessarily a bad thing when a locally-owned, homegrown tech company sells to an out-of-state corporation?
• Burlington Police had an expensive, ineffective computer system for tracking crime. So Chief Mike Schirling coded a better platform himself.
• Speaking of coding, this blogger took part in a hackathon for the good of Vermont over the weekend — sleep be damned.
• Find out how the three sons of Rich Tarrant, Sr. bagged the online grocery business with MyWebGrocer.
• High-tech map making is a big deal for governments, nonprofits and corporations.
• In non-techie news, punk rocker, author and activist Henry Rollins is taking his "Capitalism" talk to Montpelier this Friday. (Look for a longer Q&A with Rollins on this blog soon.)
• And in this week's Fair Game, State Treasurer Beth Pearce finally fights back against challenger Wendy Wilton's negativity — and lands a few blows.

CLAIM: "If [the state treasurer’s website] was so wonderful, why do we have a D minus in transparency from the U.S. PIRG? That is unacceptable in this information age." 
— Republican candidate for state treasurer Wendy Wilton, WCAX-TV debate, October 7

FACTS: Transparency has been Wilton’s favorite cudgel in the state treasurer’s race. The Rutland city treasurer accuses Democratic State Treasurer Beth Pearce of failing to present the state’s budget in a “checkbook” format that Vermonters can understand. She points to a March study from U.S. PIRG, a national consumer advocacy organization, that gave the state a failing grade for financial transparency as proof that Pearce hasn’t provided the public with the kind of easy-to-grasp graphics and explanations that would make the state’s finances more transparent to average Vermonters. 

Two weeks until Election Day. (Yes, this too shall pass). Here's what's happening in Vermont politics and news this week. Got a newsworthy event for next week's calendar? Email us by Friday to submit.

Monday, October 22

• Today at 11 a.m., Champlain College is making a "major announcement." Folks there wouldn't give any hint, but promised reporters it'd be worth their while to attend. Check back on Off Message to see what the big surprise was.
• Also at 11 a.m., in the Statehouse Cedar Creek Room, the Vermont Ecumenical Council and Bible Society holds a press conference calling for just immigration policies.
• At 7 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Gettleman, the East Africa bureau chief for the New York Times, speaks at St. Michael's College. Details here. Read Kevin J. Kelley's interview with Gettleman here.
• At 9 p.m., it's the third and final presidential debate. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama tussle over foreign policy, from a seated position.

Rest of the week after the jump...