Updated June 1, 2016 at 2:25 p.m. with a quote from Ryan Mercer.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lisman, taken to task earlier this month for a campaign flier that targets rival Phil Scott, has ramped up his attack with a second flier just a week later.
Both of the mailings seek to link Scott, the three-term lieutenant governor, with departing Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin. Scott and Lisman are competing in the August primary for the Republican nomination for governor.
The new flier includes a photo of Scott and Shumlin laughing together overlooking what appears to be Lake Champlain. “A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words. Phil Scott Won’t Change Vermont’s Direction,” it declares.
In the earlier flier, Lisman’s campaign used a Vermont Public Radio photograph of Scott and Shumlin without the station’s permission.
The photo of Shumlin and Scott in the newer flier was taken in 2011 by freelance photographer Joshua Lambert for the Burlington Free Press. Lambert posted it on his blog. The full image shows that Scott and Shumlin were laughing along with Lake Champlain Chamber of Commerce president Tom Torti, who was cropped out of the image on Lisman’s flier.
Lambert said he doesn’t know if he or the Free Press owns the rights to the photo, but said: “I don’t want my stuff being used in a political campaign.”
Free Press photo editor Ryan Mercer said the paper and Lambert have dual rights to the photo. But because it appears Lisman’s campaign took the photo from Lambert’s website, the paper won’t pursue the issue. “If it was from our site, I’d be talking to a lawyer right now,” he said. “I think it’s wrong.”
The flier quotes from an October, 2014 Seven Days story about Scott:
By his own account, Scott gets along well with Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, too — he described their relationship as ‘honest’ and ‘trusting.’ The governor invites his deputy to cabinet meetings and pivotal press conferences and has done little to assist the Democratic candidates who’ve attempted to unseat Scott in the last two elections.
The flip side of the second flier shows unhappy people in a waiting room and says, “Phil Scott supported Governor Shumlin’s failed health care exchange.”
Scott has expressed doubts about the state’s rollout of the Vermont Health Connect insurance exchange and in recent months has called for moving instead to the federal exchange or a multistate alternative. Some Republicans have long criticized him for not being a more outspoken critic.
Lisman’s latest missive launched a sharp Facebook exchange with each of the candidates’ campaign managers entering the fray.
H. Brooke Paige of the Orange County town of Washington, a perennial candidate who is running as a Democratic candidate for both governor and attorney general, lit into Lisman on Facebook early Monday. “Lisman’s reality at odds with the facts!” Paige charged.
Paige pointed out that Shumlin endorsed Scott’s 2014 opponent, Dean Corren. “There are numerous articles from the 2014 election news cycle that confirm the icy post-endorsement relationship between Shumlin and Scott,” Paige wrote.
Lisman’s campaign manager, Shawn Shouldice, responded: “I’m sorry, Brooke, but I have to strongly disagree with your missive here. Lt. Gov. Phil Scott has often supported Shumlin’s health care policies. Perhaps even worse, he has too often stood by silently as the governor has pushed health care policies which have created much uncertainty, increased premium and out-of-pocket costs leaving fewer health insurance choices and options.”
That brought a quick response from Scott’s campaign manager, Brittney Wilson. “Shawn, this is so far from the truth. It’s disappointing to see you writing this nonsense,” Wilson wrote. “Let’s talk about ‘devastating’ … Bruce spent 40+ years working on Wall Street for the two companies who are responsible for the 2009 depression! He made millions off the backs of working Americans!!! And now he’s using that money to run a negative campaign. No one is buying your case!”
Disclosure: Terri Hallenbeck formerly worked at the Burlington Free Press.
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Dear Bruce Lisman,
I want to say thank you for the postcard I received from your campaign this morning. I think it will be very effective in helping Vermonters make their decision as to who to elect as their next Governor. With this mailing you have made it very clear the only candidate who is right for Vermont is Phil Scott.
You may have been born and raised in this state but with the time spent making your millions in New York City it is evident, you have lost your Vermont values. The manipulation of the facts in and of itself is a pathetic political maneuver. But the duplicitous characterization of someone who has done significantly more for this state than you ever have speaks louder. It shows you are desperate and do not have a clue as to the moral code of Vermonters who support a person such as Phil possess.
The blame for the current economic calamity happening in this state lies firmly on the Democrats. The solution is a Republican party who will be strong and united to fight against further chaos in Montpelier. Campaign tactics such as this postcard only serve to divide us. Pulling this campaign down into the mud only goes to reveal that in the mud is where you feel comfortable wallowing.
Vermont deserves better. I know other voters such as myself will now recognize you are not one of us. You are not the leader capable of the dedication the people of this state require, Phil Scott is. So again, I thank you for spending thousands of campaign dollars on this mailing. I suspect it will make all the difference.
Sincerely,
Nicole Citro
This is the same Nicole Citro who spent tens of thousands of dollars showered upon her from lobbying groups like Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce and Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation in her supposed “citizen” driven push to base the budget-busting, experimental F-35 fighter jet in Vermont’s most densely populated area. Who attacked life-long working class & elderly residents of South Burlington and Winooski trying to protect their health and home values from the F-35’s expanded noise zone. So she clearly has no problem spending thousands on mailings and wallowing deep in the mud.
You would think she would have some loyalty to the Democrats like Shumlin and Shap Smith who joined with her in embracing the fighter jet that John McCain says is a disaster and poster child of Pentagon fraud and waste. The Democrats who joined Ms. Citro in helping to suppress and prevent legislation from Winooski Rep. George Cross to examine the pros and cons and economic impact, good and bad, of that same F-35 fighter jet. I wonder what she and the Democrats were so afraid of in the proposed legislation from Mr. Cross?
Bruce Lisman has my vote in the primary because he is willing to commit to specifics. Phil Scott speaks only in the vaguest of generalities. An economy driven solely by corporate welfare for the military industrial complex, as Ms. Citro argues for, is not a strong economy. Multiplier effect is minimal compared with other ways to spend tax dollars. I was seriously considering voting for Phil Scott in the general election, fully expecting him to win the primary, but Ms. Citro has just convinced me to write-in Lisman instead.
I’m surprised that people are upset at retired Wall Street executive Bruce Lisman’s campaign tactics. After all, he spent decades absorbing the values and mores of Wall Street investment banks and stockbrokerages, an industry not widely renowned for honesty or integrity. Lisman learned his lessons well, he made tens of millions of dollars and when his firm Bear Stearns went bankrupt, he came back to Vermont to run for governor. I still remember how Bear Stearns and their Wall Street compatriots almost brought down the world’s financial systems and thrust America into a deep recession. Rather than be upset at Lisman appropriating images from local nonprofits without their permission and mailing out misleading fliers, I’m really quite relieved that he hasn’t done worse.
I thought Lisman was going to run a campaign about issues. Creating “guilt by association” flyers is not an issue-oriented campaign. Instead, why doesn’t he tell us exactly what he would do to improve the health care system. All we get is “We can do better.” That’s a glittering generality. What ideas does he have about growing Vermont’s economy? His experience on Wall Street is not something anyone should trust. The best I can conclude is that Lisman is using the money he got at Bear Stearns (while investors he was protecting lost their shirts) to run a vanity campaign. Rich guy in a small state. Not exactly a compelling reason to vote for him.
Lisman’s Reality at Odds with the Facts !
I received another “Lisman-for-Vermont” mailing picturing Shumlin and Scott laughing it up in an undated photograph. The “a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words” mailer intimates a cordial relationship between the two, which is simply not the case.
In 2014, Shumlin actively supported Dean Corren in his bid to unseat Phil Scott, running as both a Progressive and a write-in Democratic candidate in both the Primary and General Election. This brash act by Shumlin put to an end any attempts at accommodation by Phil Scott. News stores from 2014 confirm the icy “post-endorsement” relationship between Shumlin and Scott, the fallout from this “back stabbing” remain to this day.
In 2014 VPR reported
“Shumlin’s endorsement of Corren came at a press conference in Montpelier, in response to a question from a reporter about whether he supported Corren’s candidacy. Shumlin said he did, noting not only Corren’s dedication to the governor’s flagship issue – single-payer healthcare – but the fact that Corren was a Democrat.
“I will be supporting the Democrat/Progressive as I always have and probably always will,” Shumlin said. “It shouldn’t surprise anyone that as a Democrat I am supporting a Democrat.”
Later, Shumlin seemed befuddled when the reporter pointed out that Corren was not a Democrat!
Hey Bruce, you’ve “gotta” accept that the cash you’ve spent has had little impact on your poll numbers – it’s tough being the underdog, trust me I know; however, your move to the “dark side” is a desperation move that I do not understand; it will not help you with Vermont voters. You have a lot of good ideas on the economy, healthcare, energy and education, but nobody is going to hear them if they have tuned you out!
H. Brooke Paige
Democratic Candidate for Governor and Attorney General
https://www.facebook.com/brooke.paige.395
@ And in the prior election, didn’t Shumlin endorse Cassandra Gekas for Lt. Gov. — a newcomer to Vermont with absolutely no political experience, but a big cheerleader for single-payer — over Scott, as well? So much for Lisman’s dishonest argument that Shumlin and Scott are allies.