Travis Belisle doesn’t usually involve himself in politics — and he’s no liberal.
“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.'”
So even though he would “love” to vote for Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott, Belisle decided to back Minter. Two or three weeks ago, he said, his advisers connected him with retired lobbyist Bob Sherman to discuss ways to contribute to Minter’s election.
“I actually don’t know Bob,” Belisle said. “My whole team knows Bob.”
Sherman, who founded the Montpelier lobbying firm KSE Partners, had come out of retirement to assemble Vermonters for Strong Leadership. Of the $140,000 he raised, $125,000 of it came from an affiliate of EMILY’s List, a Washington, D.C., group dedicated to electing pro-choice women to office. The remaining $15,000 came from Vermont environmentalists — and Belisle.
The precise nature of his donation wasn’t clear to the Swanton wind developer. He was under the impression he had donated directly to Minter’s campaign.
“I actually don’t get into the details of it, but I don’t believe we’re involved with any super PAC stuff at all,” Belisle said.
In fact, he is.
Reached Friday, Sherman said he “can’t even remember which of those guys” connected him to Belisle, referring to the developer’s lawyers and consultants.
“I understand he’s somewhat controversial,” Sherman said of the donor, declining to answer all further questions about their interactions. “I’m not going to talk about that. I’m not gonna talk about that.”
Belisle is hardly the only wind developer who has lined up behind Minter. At a Statehouse press conference on Tuesday, AllEarth Renewables president and CEO David Blittersdorf stood behind Minter as she accepted a late endorsement from the environmental advocacy group Vermont Conservation Voters. The organization decided to back Minter after rival Democrat Matt Dunne announced days earlier that he supported allowing municipalities to veto wind projects with a town-wide vote.
Blittersdorf is a highly controversial figure in Vermont energy politics. A major donor to retiring Gov. Peter Shumlin, he developed a 10-megawatt wind project in Georgia and has been fighting to build another installation in Irasburg.
The developer wrote two $2,000 checks to Minter’s campaign last December and January, contributing the maximum amount allowable under the law. Earlier this week he contributed an additional $1,900 to a super PAC affiliated with VCV, called Vermont Conservation Victory Fund. In total, he has donated $3,900 to the group, according to a filing with the Secretary of State’s Office.
On Friday, Vermont Conservation Victory Fund became the second super PAC to go to bat for Minter. It bought $5,000 worth of online advertising supporting her election.
Among the speakers at Tuesday’s press conference was Anthony Iarrapino, a Montpelier attorney who has lobbied at the Statehouse for Lake Champlain International, the Conservation Law Foundation and the American Heart Association. Iarrapino introduced himself at the event as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He did not mention that he works for Belisle as a liaison to municipal officials in Swanton.
Iarrapino said Friday that while he was not speaking as a member of the wind industry, his involvement with it was hardly a secret.
“Do you think there was a single reporter who was at that press conference the other day who did not know or could not easily find out through Google that I worked for wind power?” he asked Seven Days.
Iarrapino said he had “no formal involvement” with Vermonters for Strong Leadership and played no role in connecting Belisle with the super PAC.
“I will not hesitate at all to say that I’m glad the Belisles are supporting a candidate they feel can best realize the Vermont vision of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050,” he said, referring to Minter. “But I had no hand in their making a donation to any efforts that support Sue Minter as a candidate who is clearly the leader on clean energy in Vermont.”
In recent days, Minter’s opponents have criticized her for benefiting from super PAC support. Fellow Democrat Peter Galbraith, an opponent of industrial-scale wind, said it was particularly galling that a developer with a pending project would use a super PAC to exceed the state’s $4,000-per-person contribution cap.
“Campaign finance limits exist to keep people who, like Belisle, have a financial interest in the regulatory actions of the state from having undue influence on the next governor,” Galbraith said. “This is a blatant circumvention of campaign finance limits. Sue should return $5,000 of the Belisle money from her own campaign. It is total hypocrisy to say you are against corporate money and then tolerate this kind of subterfuge.”
The Dunne campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but in a Thursday debate on Vermont Public Radio, he alleged that “the biggest lobbying firm in Montpelier created [Vermonters for Strong Leadership] to put money behind an ad that is dishonest about my commitment to clean energy.”
Dunne was referring to Montpelier-based KSE Partners, which Sherman cofounded. The firm does have ties to the wind industry: It represents Iberdrola Renewables, which is seeking to build a 96-megawatt project in Grafton and Windham. And it represents Green Mountain Power, which built a 63-megawatt project in Lowell.
KSE also has ties to the Minter campaign. Alex MacLean, a former Shumlin administration official who serves as the firm’s president of strategic communications, has advised the candidate. Her current involvement in the Minter campaign is not clear. She did not respond to a request for comment.
Sherman retired from KSE at the end of 2014. His son, Nick, is a partner in the firm. But the elder Sherman has repeatedly denied that KSE is involved with his super PAC.
“I know there are people trying to make trouble and bring KSE into it,” Sherman said Friday.
Todd Bailey, president of government relations for the firm, did not respond to a request for comment Friday about KSE’s involvement.
Asked about the wind industry’s involvement in Minter’s bid, her campaign manager avoided the question.
“Sue sees climate change as one of the greatest threats to our generation and she believes that renewable energy sources are a vital part of combating the problem,” Molly Ritner said Friday. “Moving forward with clean green energy is not just a moral imperative but an economic driver. Sue will continue to support Vermont’s green economy which currently employs 17,000 Vermonters.”
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Belisle: My whole team knows Bob (Sherman).”
KSE represents Iberdrola…
Alex Maclean….
It is just as I’ve said…big energy (which includes big renewables) is corrupting Vermont politics,
Sue Minter is part of the same group that feels we need to sell our ridgelines to the highest bidder, without sacrificing our wasteful practices.
You’re onto the tail of the beast, Paul Heintz.
I can almost hear Peter Freyne…pinning the tail on this group. Breezy Sue Minter?
This is what they are buying:
https://vermontersforacleanenvironment.wor…
How many people in that photo are on Blittersdorf’s payroll? Bray and Klein have received campaign donations, right? Duane Peterson of SunCommon has been on the board of VPIRG which has received funding from Blittersdorf, is that correct? Sandy Levine is in the back of the group. Has CLF received donations from Blittersdorf? Martha Staskus of VERA, standing behind Anthony Iarrapino, is the front person for Blittersdorf’s projects. What is the relationship between Blittersdorf and VERA? Does he own it? Does Vermont Conservation Voters, the host of the Minter event, take funding from Blittersdorf (and in asking this I include his foundation)? The Board of Renewable Energy Vermont is represented. Does REV taking funding from Blittersdorf? This photo captures many of the key members of the “club” that has brought Vermont its failed energy policies and are benefitting financially from its aggressive implementation.
She’s bought and paid for.
Is she running for a fourth Shumlin term?
Dunne will say and do anything to get elected.
Minter is just another term for Shumlin and cravenly caving to the “McKibben” vote as a last-minute tactic.
Terrible, terrible, terrible choices for Governor on the Democratic side.
The democratic side of this governor race is just like the presidential election. There are no good choices and I sure don’t want to support a slimy candidate.
Matt Dunne is an honorable candidate. He was the only one to bother going to every single county in Vermont last fall, including Essex County, the usually-neglected part of Vermont. He came out early and loudly and unequivocally for Bernie Sanders. He went door knocking for Bernie in NH in the dead of winter, and he phonebanked for Bernie. He gave back his corporate dollars and refused to take any more corporate cash. He’s got my vote. Sue Minter is a Hillary CLinton prevaricator wanna be. She phoned our home about ten days before Super Tuesday looking for our support. When we asked her if she was endorsing Bernie Sanders, she said no, because she wanted to stay neutral so she could “get along” with whomever the POTUS ended up being. (Translation=I’m afraid of the Clintons). Imagine our surprise not ten days later, when we were at the Bernie rally in Essex Junction on Super Tuesday night and saw Sue Minter up there roaring her approval of Bernie Sanders. Ugh. That’s the kind of nauseating bandwagon jumping that turns me off permanently. I’m for Matt Dunne.
She’s not a prevaricator, she’s a politician. Which is not a pejorative, just as “liberal” is not a pejorative. Who cares who our gubernatorial candidates supported for president, as long as it’s not Trump? The suggestion that they need to have been Bernie supporters all along sounds like a loyalty test to me. Sue minter is a candidate who is direct, clear and authentic about her vision for Vermont. I’m proud to support her and finally optimistic about what lies ahead for those who are struggling.
Laura Wilson, I see you making the exact same comment all over the internet: I hope Mr. Dunne is at least paying you for all your hard work trolling the voters. Given his new “bridge loan” to his own campaign he should have no problem finding the funds!
I used to be a Dunne supporter myself until I saw the way he treated people once he knew he had their vote (their questions were no longer his concern) and watched him flip flop on several issues. I have also been nervous from the start that Dunne wanted to be Governor a little too much and he has only proven me right. He acts like he is entitled to the job and the voters are just standing in his way.
People are tired of Clinton style politicians. Minter comes from that pool so the fact that she originally tried to skirt the issue and then came out in support of Bernie when his popularity was clear reminds people of Clinton style politicians. I guess Matt Dunne was ahead of the curve on that one but I wouldn’t necessarily say that makes him a “Bernie candidate” either.
Without a doubt this PAC is distorting reality and making some claims that cannot be supported. But its obvious so let’s not get distracted too much. As I focus on what’s ultimately going to matter to me, my friends and my community, it all ties back to THE ECONOMY. Matt has always seen this, and I think that’s what drew him to Bernie. We need a strong economy to tackle environment, social services, infrastructure, education, etc… so investing in broadband and making VT the telecommuting capital of the country will help grow our population of taxpayers and with that growth, attract next-economy businesses. Matt’s vision looks forward to an economy that supports traditional industries, but reaches forward to set us up for the growing digital economy where tomorrow’s best jobs will be. That’s what really excites me about Matt.