Monday, August 15, 2016
Vermont's five major gubernatorial candidates spent a collective $5.3 million contesting last week's primary election, according to final reports filed Monday with the Secretary of State's Office. That makes the race the most expensive of its type in state history.
Far and away the biggest spender was Republican Bruce Lisman, who dropped $2.1 million — or $118 per vote — in his failed attempt to win the GOP nomination. Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, who prevailed in that race, spent just $806,000 — or $29 per vote. Scott defeated Lisman 60 to 39 percent.
On the Democratic side, Sue Minter and Matt Dunne spent close to $1 million apiece: $984,000 for Minter and $999,000 for Dunne. A third candidate, Peter Galbraith, doled out $372,000. Minter won with 49 percent of the vote. Dunne picked up 37 percent and Galbraith 9 percent.
The final fundraising figures show Minter got the best bang for her buck. She spent $27 per vote, while Dunne spent $37 and Galbraith $56.
At the start of their general-election contest, Scott has a slight financial advantage. He has $158,000 in the bank, while Minter has just $54,000, according to their respective campaigns.
Tags: Vermont gubernatorial race , campaign finance , Sue Minter , Matt Dunne , Peter Galbraith , Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Image , Web Only
Friday, August 12, 2016
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … really friggin’ loud!
Some Burlington residents are making noise about the loud and low passes made by military jets and aerobatic aircraft ahead of this weekend’s Wings Over Vermont air show. Both Thursday and Friday, aircraft buzzed the Burlington waterfront, getting ready for a spectacle that organizers said could draw up to 40,000 people.
But the loud practice runs prompted some concerned citizens to vent online — or call the police. Chief Brandon del Pozo said “numerous” calls about the noise had the potential to clog the dispatch switchboard and hinder the response to an actual emergency.
“Please advise the public that no number of calls to the police will alter the plans for the show or the level of noise it creates,” del Pozo said in a press release.
Tags: Burlington , Wings over Vermont , Burlington air show , Image , Web Only
Thursday, August 11, 2016
The longtime owners of the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus have agreed to sell the Vermont newspapers to a company headed by a Maine publisher and a semiretired New Hampshire printing executive.
Herald Association president R. John Mitchell, whose father bought a stake in the Herald in 1947, announced the sale on the paper’s website late Wednesday in a story written by his son, editor in chief Rob Mitchell. It appeared on the front page of the Herald and Times Argus Thursday morning.
“We have always held these newspapers in trust for the public,” the son quoted his father as saying. “While we’ve always been a privately held company, we believe they are an asset of the communities they serve and of the state of Vermont.”
If completed, the sale would bring to a close 222 years of local ownership. The Herald was founded in 1794 and has billed itself as “the oldest continuously family-owned newspaper in the United States published under the same name in the same city.”
The buyers — Reade Brower of Camden, Maine, and Chip Harris of Center Harbor, N.H. — said they are committed to turning the papers around.
“I don’t have a cut and slash personality,” Brower told Seven Days Thursday afternoon. “I believe that you can’t save your way to prosperity. People are willing to pay for something if it’s good. I’m only interested in properties that I believe still serve their communities and are viable — and these two papers sort of fit the mold.”
Tags: Rutland Herald , Barre-Montpelier Times Argus , R John Mitchell , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lisman spent much of his career on Wall Street. But in his unsuccessful bid to become Vermont’s next governor, he didn’t get much of a return on his investment.
Preliminary campaign finance and voting data indicate that Lisman spent more than $113 for every vote he received in Tuesday’s primary.
That figure is likely to grow once Lisman and his fellow candidates report updated fundraising and spending information next week to the Secretary of State’s Office. For now, we know that Lisman spent nearly $1.85 million before July 15 and another $200,000 since on mass media, such as television and mailings. What we don’t know is how much he spent on non-media expenditures — such as payroll — in the nearly four weeks since his last comprehensive report.
Even without that information, we know that Lisman, who largely self-funded his campaign, spent at least $2.05 million to pick up 18,115 votes.
The Shelburne Republican’s campaign manager, Shawn Shouldice, argued Wednesday that such operations are inherently expensive — particularly for a newcomer to politics.
Tags: Bruce Lisman , Phil Scott , Peter Galbraith , Sue Minter , Matt Dunne , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Seven minutes after the Associated Press declared Lt. Gov. Phil Scott the GOP nominee, the RGA hailed him in a statement as a “leader who can restore trust in state government and solve the challenges facing [Vermont] families.”
Tags: Phil Scott , Sue Minter , Republican Governors Association , A Stronger Vermont , gubernatorial campaign , Image , Video , Web Only
Tags: Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Bruce Lisman , Matt Dunne , Peter Galbraith , election 2016 , Image , Slideshow , Web Only
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
“A lot of well-informed voters are undecided,” former senator Peter Galbraith observed Monday after canvassing senior centers in Burlington.
Across town, rival Sue Minter said she’d detected a “shift” in the race to replace retiring Gov. Peter Shumlin as the party’s standard-bearer.
“I think people are finally actually paying attention,” the former transportation secretary said after hosting a rally near the Burlington waterfront. “It’s been great to have a field operation where we’ve made tons of touches, so by the time I’m talking to people, they’ve heard of me.”
The third major candidate in the race, former Google manager Matt Dunne, spent Monday hunkered down in his White River Junction office making phone calls, according to spokeswoman Jessica Bassett. She said he was not available for an interview.
As the candidates reached out to voters one by one, their campaigns and supporters bombarded the state with television advertising and mailings.
Tags: Matt Dunne , Sue Minter , Peter Galbraith , Vermont gubernatorial campaign , Democratic primary , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Web Only
Monday, August 8, 2016
The embattled editor in chief of the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus assured employees Monday morning that his family's news organization would survive.
"There is a future for these newspapers," Rob Mitchell told staffers at a companywide meeting in the Herald newsroom, according to prepared remarks he provided to Seven Days and other media outlets.
Mitchell addressed his employees three days after his father, company president R. John Mitchell, fired Herald news editor Alan Keays for covering the organization’s ongoing financial troubles. As the Herald itself reported last week, freelancers have gone weeks without pay — and staffers have seen their paychecks bounce.
The younger Mitchell acknowledged the turmoil Monday, calling it "embarrassing, humiliating and difficult.” While he said that all employees had since been paid and their expenses reimbursed, he did not indicate whether freelancers had been made whole.
Tags: Rutland Herald , Times Argus , Rob Mitchell , John Mitchell , Alan Keays , Image , Web Only
Saturday, August 6, 2016
There was one notable omission: As of Saturday morning, Sanders had not weighed in on Vermont's race for governor.
That hasn't kept one Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former state senator Matt Dunne, from tying himself at the hip to Sanders. Dunne has repeatedly invoked the progressive icon's name in television advertisements and, late this week, he sent a mailer throughout the state mimicking Sanders' campaign logo.
"If you still feel the Bern," it says on one side of the piece, "You can still get it Dunne."
On the other side, it reads, "For Bernie Sanders' supporters, Matt Dunne is the clear choice for governor."
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Matt Dunne , Jeff Weaver , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Web Only
"I've never voted for a Democrat in my life," he said Friday.
But the Swanton construction executive donated $5,000 this week to an independent-expenditure political action committee supporting Democrat Sue Minter's campaign for governor. The so-called super PAC, named Vermonters for Strong Leadership, bought $120,000 worth of television ads Thursday calling her "the progressive" in the race.
So why did Belisle give?
"I think Sue Minter is probably a very good fit for Vermont, but I kind of leave it up to my team," he said.
Belisle was referring to the stable of lawyers and consultants he employs to assist in his controversial bid to build a 20-megawatt wind farm near the Swanton-St. Albans town line.
"What they did is they said, 'Hey, for the primary, each candidate needs to raise substantial funds, blah, blah, blah. Is that something you'd support — a candidate to get a governor you'd like to see running the state of Vermont?'" he recalled. "My wife and I sat down and said, 'Yeah.'"
Tags: Sue Minter , Matt Dunne , Peter Galbraith , Travis Belisle , David Blittersdorf , Anthony Iarrapino , wind , Swanton , Lowell , election 2016 , primary 2016 , Image , Web Only