A newly formed group called Vermonters for Honest Government is sinking more than $30,000 into television ads asking Vermonters to urge their legislators to vote for Republican Scott Milne over incumbent Democrat Peter Shumlin for governor next week.
The ads are slated to start running Tuesday on WCAX-TV and other stations, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission. The legislature is scheduled to vote on the governor race January 8 because no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote in the November 4 election. Despite being a heavy favorite, Shumlin won just 46 percent of the vote, leading Milne by roughly 2,400 votes.
Bill Round, a retired U.S. Navy captain and Vermont native who lives in Newport Center, issued a news release Monday afternoon saying he formed the group that is behind the ad and a website — www.vthonestgov.com — that went live Monday. “Vermonters have had enough of Peter Shumlin and his broken promises,” Round said in the release.
Round said Monday that the group started over coffee among friends and includes more than 50 Vermonters he described as ordinary residents. “This is all being done in the backwoods. It just lit up,” he said.
Milne, who has declined to concede the November 4 election, said Monday he had not spoken with Round and was not involved with the group’s efforts, but he supports the message.
“It points out to the people that we’ve got a constitution that essentially says we’ve had no election for governor. That happens on January 8,” Milne said. “It points out to regular folks that if you want change, contact your legislator.”
Shumlin has said he believes legislators should vote for the candidate who received the most votes on Election Day. Milne faces long-shot odds of winning in the heavily Democratic legislature.
“Vermont is at a crossroads, with skyrocketing taxes, overspending, budget deficits and a serious lack of transparency,” the 30-second ad says. “The headlines keep coming and the problems keep piling up. Can we afford another two years of Peter Shumlin as governor? If you have had enough of Peter Shumlin’s political shenanigans, let your representatives know that it is time for a change. Contact them and urge them to vote for Scott Milne for governor on January 8th.”
Round said he has yet to contact his own legislators, but plans to do so before the vote. They include two Democratic senators and two Republican representatives.
Round said he met Milne once at a fundraiser during the campaign and supported him because as president of Milne Travel, Milne is a successful business owner who understands customer service. Shumlin also ran his own successful travel company before becoming governor, but Round has been unimpressed with his tenure as governor.
Round made the ad purchases Monday, according to the FCC filings.
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I have a hard time crediting complaints about “skyrocketing taxes” when it comes from a small group of individuals who can afford to spend $30,000 on one week of political advertising.
Why is it a good idea to have the one who lost the vote become governor? This is nothing more than a group of disgruntled people who don’t like the governor and apparently have $30k to wizz away. Good for them.
Does anyone know how many legislature districts were carried by Mr. Milne? Perhaps I’m naive but if I was a Vermont State Legislator and my distict voted for either in the majority then my constituents have spoken and I would vote their wishes regardless if I was a Democrat or Republican.
Terri is Back!
It is great to see that Terri Hallenbeck’s talent has landed on the “pages” of SevenDays. Glad to see your escape from the sinking ship (USAToday/BFP) was successful. I know that your honest and straight forward reporting will help to balance the partican ravings of Paul Heintz.
Terri – All the Best, Brooke
Sad that SevenDays is now limiting political speech – previously this was a great outlet for material that was judged to be a little too edgy for the main (lame) stream media. I guess VTDigger will wind up being the last resort for those of us who express opinions that do not conform to Vermont’s liberal media agenda.
Below is how my “Responsibility Instead of the “Rubber Stamp” submission:
Subject: Comment on Seven Days site
From: “Andrea Suozzo”
Date: Wed, December 31, 2014 8:51 am
To: donnap@sover.net
Priority: Normal
Options: View Full Header | View Printable Version | View as HTML | View Message details
Brooke,
I’ve removed your comment on the Seven Days website because our commenting
guidelines ask that you limit comments to 300 words, and this comment
exceeds it quite a bit.
You’re welcome to repost a shorter comment that reflects the point you were
making in that post. Here’s the page:
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/arch…
Best,
Andrea
—
// SEVEN DAYS //
:: Andrea Suozzo
:: Digital Editor
:: http://sevendaysvt.com/
:: email: andrea@sevendaysvt.com
:: twitter: @asuozzo
I think Milne is right and that all the legislators who want to vote for him should do as he asks and show up onn January 8 tovote!
We as Vermonter’s need a change and they showed you that in November. Please vote for Scott Milne for Governor.
Saying every member should vote his/her district for a STATE election is basically saying you think some votes matter more than others. This is not a local matter, it is a state matter, and anything other than STATE majority vote for this is just plain wrong. The Republicans owe many of their victories to ploys like this, since they tend to win lesser populated areas but not cities. Let’s not follow the trend of the nation and let a party that doesn’t win the most votes end up in power.
If Milne hadn’t been a baby and was willing to wait just two short years he’d be a near shoe-in. Instead he chose to throw a tantrum and if he does convince the legislature to vote him in, he’s going to be a disaster as governor. Remember there were many, many liberals/progressives who were mad at Shumlin and so didn’t vote for him, notice how many votes the other liberal candidates got! If they put Milne in all these people who abstained from voting are gonna be very pissed. Milne will have a very short two year term and will end up remembered as a disappointment.
From what I’ve heard of Milne his ideas are kinda bad anyway. Give college tuition credits to the schools that need LESS money from the state (hint: They are the schools where parents contribute more, IE the richer schools that don’t need it). Also he complained about too many JOBS created during the recession because some of them were state government jobs and he has some ideological problem with it to the point that he feels he’d rather just not have the jobs. Thanks Milne! So much for job creation!
Scott Milne and Phil “Thunder Road” Scott can smell blood..
I agree with Charlie Hohn. This is a statewide issue, not a local issue — making it local will just make it divisive. Do we really need to go back to the days of Take Back VT? Furthermore, I feel that Milne could have been spending these past few weeks laying out his platform — which was never really made clear during the election — or letting us know more about where he stands as a person and a legislator, rather than remotely lobbying currently elected officials to consider him for governor based on no real or solid information.
It seems that those for Peter Shumlin are totally ignoring the reality that he ran with incumbency, tons more money, a huge majority of the elected representatives, senators and statewide office holders of his same party, and of course far greater name recognition all at his back. Most any Vermont governor, Democrat or Republican, in that position would get well over 60%, perhaps even 70%, or better of the vote. So to call his 2400 votes a win is quite a stretch. Any valid calculus would take into account the vast handicap that Scott Milne had. I am not advocating which way to vote, but rather just please don’t pretend Peter Shumlin won the election. He did not even come close to what he should have and that is a real problem. If elected, Vermont has a totally lame duck for governor, one that even his base is very frustrated with and I would not be at all surprised if many of them vote for Milne, just to send Shumlin a message about his promises vs. accomplishments.