With the 2012 campaign season in full swing, Seven Days has teamed up with VTDigger.org to create a fact-checker feature to test the "truthiness" of claims made by the candidates who want your vote this November. This week's Fact Checker was written by VTDigger's Anne Galloway.

CLAIM: “Pete Shumlin’s Vermont: highest tax rate in the country.” 
— Television commercial for Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock, titled “Who’s He Fooling?”

FACTS: The Vermont GOP has long contended that Democrats have made the Green Mountain State into a high-tax, antibusiness enclave. So it wasn’t surprising when Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock claimed, in an attack ad against Gov. Peter Shumlin, that Vermont has the highest tax rate in the country. 

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After a television station reported incorrectly Tuesday night that Democratic State Treasurer Beth Pearce owns a home in Massachusetts, the Pearce campaign accused her opponent of propagating the story and "pandering to people's fears and spreading rumors."

In return, the campaign of her Republican opponent, Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton (pictured), fired back with a statement questioning Pearce's "personal commitment" to Vermont's school property tax system because, as a renter, Pearce does not directly pay the tax.

Wilton's campaign took the dig a step further in a follow-up email to Seven Days, appearing to question the incumbent treasurer's commitment to the state. Pearce moved to Vermont from Massachusetts a decade ago to take a job as deputy state treasurer and was appointed to the top job in January 2011.

"If you're fully committed to Vermont, don't you invest in the state you love? Not if you're heading back to MA when your tour of duty is over..." Wilton spokesman Bradford Broyles wrote.

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Mostly.

Featured on the front — alongside Democrats Peter Shumlin, Patrick Leahy and Peter Welch — is a photo of Vermont's self-described socialist, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Dems but is running for reelection this November as an independent. On the back — alongside Democrats Beth Pearce and Bill Sorrell — are three statewide candidates running under the Democratic and Progressive umbrella: Jim Condos (a "D/P"), Doug Hoffer (another "D/P") and Cassandra Gekas (a "P/D").

But in versions of the mailer sent to Chittenden County, one candidate is conspicuously absent. Five of the six state Senate candidates who won the Democratic primary are listed as the party's county slate, but not David Zuckerman, who, like Gekas, is running as a "P/D."

So where's Hinesburg's ponytailed Prog?

As the ever-enterprising Peter Hirschfeld of the Vermont Press Bureau reported earlier Tuesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock is hitting the airwaves with a new TV ad — this one focused on Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin's single-payer health care agenda.

Brock's finance consultant and de facto campaign manager Darcie Johnston confirmed to Seven Days that the new ad will run for 10 days at a cost of $70,000. It comes on the heels of a previous 10-day, $70,000 ad campaign focusing on the economy and featuring a singing Shumlin.

Here's the new ad. And, boy, does the soundtrack creep us out.

Let's play a game.

Step one: Watch the following new television advertisement from the conservative super PAC Vermonters First.

Now, pop quiz: Asked Monday whether they support broadening Vermont's sales tax to cover not just goods but services rendered, the two major-party candidates running for governor provided the following answers.

Your mission? To guess which response came from Gov. Peter Shumlin, one of those "out-of-control" Democrats running Montpelier, and which came from Sen. Randy Brock (R-Franklin), the free-market savior running to replace him.

Candidate A:

"I think the jury's still out on broadening the sales tax base," said Candidate A. "The key is what services are going to be included and what's the unintended consequences. We have taken zero testimony on that. And until I hear testimony, I'm not going to draw a conclusion."

Candidate B:

"I have been a longtime opponent of the sales tax. I have watched the sales tax drive jobs and economic opportunities into New Hampshire along the eastern side of the state, and it's had a devastating impact on jobs and job growth," said Candidate B. "I have never been enthusiastic about expanding or raising the sales tax. I have always been against it."

Time's up! Pencils down.

Happy Rocktober! I trust everyone had a good Zep-tember?

Here's what's happening this week in the world of Vermont news and politics. Think you got something newsworthy for next week's calendar? Email us by Friday to submit.

Monday, October 1

• Lt. Gov. Phil Scott kicks off a publicity stunt — er, campaign tour — today with his "Cycling Vermont's 14" excursion. That's right, the lite guv will pedal all 14 counties of this brave little state. Guess he finally ran out of other people's jobs to do. Follow the epic journey here.
• At 10:30 a.m. at his Burlington office, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) holds a press conference to announce an energy efficiency grant that will let Burlington electric ratepayers finance energy conservation projects through their utility bills. Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger and Vermont public service commissioner Liz Miller will join him.
• Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock has scheduled a press conference on economic development — a departure from his almost singular focus on attacking Shumlin-care. 1:30 p.m. at ipCapital Group in Williston.
• The three candidates running for attorney general — incumbent Democrat Bill Sorrell, Progressive Ed Stanak and Republican Jack McMullen — will debate at Johnson State College at 4:30 p.m.in the library. Sen. Bill Doyle will moderate.

Rest of the week after the jump...

Today, Pearce's campaign started to fight back on the airwaves. According to records obtained from four Vermont television stations and confirmed by Pearce's staff, she has secured roughly $20,000 worth of ad time during the final week of the race.

Most of that money — $16,700 of it — will pay for 52 spots on WCAX-TV. Another $3200 will be split between WPTZ-TV, Fox44 and ABC22.

Maybe you've seen the lawn signs — bright blue placards with white letters imploring you to re-elect someone named "Phil Baruth" to the state Senate this November.

We definitely remember a guy named "Philip Baruth." He was an author, English professor at UVM, political blogger, VPR commentator and was elected to represent Chittenden County in the state Senate in 2010. It appears that Philip Baruth still works at UVM. And the state's official 2012 candidate roster lists a Philip Baruth, but no Phil.

So who is this Phil Baruth? Seven Days launched a resource-intensive investigation to learn the truth. But after numerous public records requests, dozens of scathing editorials and many nights of digging through Philip Baruth's trash, we were no closer to an answer.

So we picked up the phone, dialed Philip Baruth and asked him.

Remember John D. Haywood, the Democrat who challenged President Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary?

Neither do we.

Haywood didn't get much press in the run-up to the first-in-the-nation primary — nor did a dozen other also-rans whose names appeared on the ballot. But journalism students of Saint Michael's College took the time to interview and profile each and every B-lister on the New Hampshire primary ballot in the name of the democracy.

Now one of those candidates — Haywood — is suing St. Mike's, and the two student journalists who penned his profile, for libel. In a federal lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Burlington, Haywood claims that the article — published online six days before the Jan. 10 primary — contained numerous mis-characterizations about his record and portrayed him as a "bumbling, inept monster."

Haywood blames the article for costing him the race against Obama; Haywood received just 432 votes, the lawsuit notes, losing to the prez by a ratio of 115 to 1.

And here's the kicker. Haywood wants the court to award him a metric shit-ton in damages: $1 million to compensate him for "the permanent damage to his reputation" in his home community of Durham, N.C., $50 million in punitive damages, and $120,202 to reimburse what his campaign spent on newspaper advertising. (Because, you know, the college journalism piece totally sunk his White House dreams).

Haywood's justification for that eye-popping sum? "It is ... an amount that will, after taxes, enable Plaintiff to run in 2016 with a cleared name and and [sic] the ability to do the advertising that can perhaps overcome his low 2012 vote count."

Only, something has changed in the political world since ol' Jimbo hung up his hat. Things just ain't what they used to be. This year, the ex-gov says, he just "can't wait for the political season to be over" and envies "our Canadian neighbors, who recently ended a campaign that lasted a mere 33 days."

Why?

We're enduring a barrage of radio, television and internet ads that are trying to influence our votes. Most don't offer policy initiatives or visions of the contenders who sponsor them: the majority tell us why the other candidate is no good. Even the positive ads lack any real substance, for fear of offending a key constituency or furnishing fodder to the opposition.

Back when Douglas was running for office, things were different. Douglas kept things positive and stuck to the issues. Like in this ad from his 2008 race against then-House Speaker Gaye Symington and then-radio host Anthony Pollina: