Thursday, November 3, 2016
"Sen. Leahy, thanks again for agreeing to our first debate, five days before the election," Milne said, noting that the New Hampshire Senate and Vermont gubernatorial races had each featured more than a dozen such forums. "So, uh, thanks for really stepping up and giving Vermonters a chance to understand what the differences are between the two of us."
In fact, the VPR debate was their third of the campaign season, though it was their first — and last — one-on-one encounter. Judging by its bitter tone, neither candidate seemed happy to be there — or with one another.
"You've admitted that you've taken, I think, about $20,000 of travel from special interests to places like Las Vegas and Paris," Milne continued, asking whether Leahy felt "uncomfortable" having accepted free airfare and accommodations.
The incumbent Democrat said he'd cleared his 2004 trip to Paris — sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies — with the Senate Ethics Committee and later worked with then-senator Barack Obama to enact "very strong restrictions" on free travel.
Tags: Scott Milne , Patrick Leahy , Peter Hirschfeld , Vermont Public Radio , debate , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 31, 2016
King spoke with Seven Days ahead of a talk he is scheduled to give at Middlebury College on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Mead Chapel. The conversation was edited for clarity and brevity.
Seven Days: Has this election season made the national conversation about race and police better or worse?
Shaun King: I would probably say worse. It hasn’t helped it. The few times the presidential candidates have talked about it, it’s been a pretty one-dimensional conversation. For most mainstream Democrats and virtually all Republicans, law enforcement and their families and supporters are still a part of their voting base and they refuse to talk tough about it. We’ve struggled to get these presidential candidates to talk about it in any serious way, but that’s no different than any mainstream issue right now. It’s just been an ugly race altogether. I hear a lot of activists say we’re all looking forward to the presidential race being over because we feel like it dominates the news cycle in so many ways that the country will be able to talk about more substance.
Tags: Shaun King , Middlebury College , race , police , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The Democratic gubernatorial candidate has purchased $10,500 worth of air time to run the ad, according to a disclosure filed Tuesday with the Secretary of State's Office.
Tags: Sue Minter , Barack Obama , Audio , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 24, 2016
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) spent the weekend stumping for Vermont's Democratic slate. Now he's putting his fundraising might behind two of its top candidates.
In a message sent Monday afternoon to his national email list, Sanders called on his loyal base of donors to contribute to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Sue Minter and Democratic/Progressive lieutenant gubernatorial nominee David Zuckerman. The email encourages Sanders' supporters to split their donations evenly between Minter, Zuckerman and three out-of-state candidates and causes: California State Senate candidate Jane Kim, California State Assembly candidate Eloise Reyes and California's Proposition 61, a ballot initiative designed to lower the price of prescription drugs.
By 8:30 p.m. Monday — six hours after Sanders sent the email — Zuckerman had already raised roughly $20,000 from 2,800 donors, he told Seven Days. Minter's campaign declined to comment on its haul but issued a statement thanking Sanders for his support.
"We're excited to have Bernie Sanders highlighting Sue as a candidate who shares his values, who will strengthen the middle-class and truly tackle Vermont's affordability issues, rather than simply rehashing trickle-down economics and the national Republican line," said Minter spokesman Elliott Bent.*
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , David Zuckerman , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
Friday, October 21, 2016
Nine months after President Barack Obama asked him to lead a national effort to expedite cancer research, Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Burlington Friday to outline the recommendations of his “Cancer Moonshot” initiative.
During a morning roundtable at the University of Vermont, Biden said that researchers had in recent years reached “a real inflection point” in the fight against the disease. But he argued that the medical community continued to face structural deficiencies that hobble communication and collaboration.
Specifically, Biden said, those fighting cancer struggle to access information about their malady, find clinical trials or even share their medical records with far-flung hospitals. Moreover, he argued, the pharmaceutical industry charges too much for life-saving drugs.
Tags: Joe Biden , Cancer Moonshot , Patrick Leahy , Sue Minter , Image , Web Only
On the radio, Obama cut ads for Vermont Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter and North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is challenging incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. He’s also on the radio for [North Carolina Senate candidate Deborah] Ross and [Pennsylvania Senate candidate Katie] McGinty and Senate candidates Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, and Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.
Minter campaign spokesman Elliott Bent confirmed the Post's story Friday morning.
“In the ad, the president endorses Sue because she shares his values: economy for the middle class, education, fighting climate change, protecting women’s right to choose,” he said in a brief written statement.
Bent said the campaign itself, not a supportive super PAC, would pay for the Obama ad. He did not reveal when it would go on-air.
Read the full story here.
Tags: Barack Obama , Sue Minter , election 2016 , Image , Web Only
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, attacked Gov. Peter Shumlin over Twitter Thursday after an email emerged claiming she “begged” him not to endorse Hillary Clinton for president last year.
“1st, I don’t beg,” O’Meara Sanders tweeted Thursday morning. “Knew Gov Shumlin endorsement of HRC worthless,told him his timing as @BernieSanders announced was pathetic crass politics.”
The senator’s wife was responding to an internal Clinton campaign email allegedly obtained by Russian hackers and posted online by WikiLeaks. In the May 2015 message, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told the candidate that he had just spoken with Shumlin and an unnamed political adviser.1st, I don't beg. Knew Gov Shumlin endorsement of HRC worthless,told him his timing as @BernieSanders announced was pathetic crass politics. https://t.co/3rCf5KPpE5
— Jane O'Meara Sanders (@janeosanders) October 20, 2016
“He called Bernie a few hours ago and said he’s endorsing you, Madame Secretary,” Mook wrote of the governor. “It will be public at 3:30 today. This was a bold move for him so it would be great if you can call and say thanks.”
Mook added, “Apparently Jane Sanders has now called him twice and begged him to change his mind and he’s stood firm.”
Tags: Senator , Jane O'Meara Sanders , Peter Shumlin , Robby Mook , Bernie Sanders , John Podesta , WikiLeaks , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
A new poll commissioned by Vermont Public Radio finds that the leading candidates for governor are statistically tied.
Among likely voters surveyed over the first two weeks of October, 39 percent said they support Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott and 38 percent prefer Democratic former transportation secretary Sue Minter. That's within the poll's 3.9 percent margin of error.
Some 14 percent of voters remain undecided in the gubernatorial race and another 2 percent back retired Major League Baseball pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee of the Liberty Union Party.
The survey, which was conducted by the Castleton Polling Institute, found that the presidential race isn't even close in Vermont.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is supported by 45 percent of likely voters, while only 17 percent plan to vote for Republican nominee Donald Trump. Libertarian Gary Johnson picked up just 4 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein 3 percent. Another 4 percent said they would vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — even though the former presidential candidate isn't on the ballot.
Tags: Senator , Sue Minter , Phil Scott , Bill "Spaceman" Lee , election 2016 , Bernie Sanders , Hillary Clinton , Donald Trump , Image , Web Only
Asked what they saw as "the single biggest issue" of the campaign, Leahy's challengers instead listed their biggest problems with him.
Republican Scott Milne called him a "career" politician. Independent Jerry Trudell criticized him for supporting Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) in the Democratic presidential primary. And U.S. Marijuana Party nominee Cris Ericson assailed him as a "bully," "sexist," "totalitarian," "fascist," "undemocratic" and, for good measure, "un-American."
Liberty Union Party nominee Peter Diamondstone showed up seven minutes late to the debate, which was held at Channel 17's Burlington studios and simulcast on C-SPAN, but after catching his breath he managed to call the incumbent a "war criminal."
Leahy took the earlier allegations in stride.
"It's kind of hard to respond to them," he said with a chuckle. "As the person who wrote the Violence Against Women Act and greatly expanded it, I don't think there's any group of women in this country that call me sexist."
Tags: cannabis related , Cris Erickson , election 2016 , Jerry Trudell , Patrick Leahy , Peter Diamondstone , Scott Milne , U.S. Senate debate , Vermont , Image , Web Only
Monday, October 17, 2016
Vermont's junior senator plans to embark on a three-week book tour (with a brief break for Thanksgiving) starting November 14 in New York City and concluding December 2 in San Francisco, according to publisher Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. The tour will touch down in Vermont on November 22 with stops in Burlington, Montpelier and Manchester.
In the book, called Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In, Sanders "shares his personal experiences from the campaign trail, recounting the details of his historic primary fight and the people who made it possible," according to the publisher. He also outlines a progressive agenda for "the millions looking to continue the political revolution." The book's publication date is November 15.
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , book , Image , Web Only