For much of the Democratic presidential primary, Vermont gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter shied away from issuing a full-throated endorsement of either former secretary of state Hillary Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Her hesitance was understandable. Many of Minter’s top allies — including EMILY’s List, whose support she was courting at the time — were squarely in Clinton’s camp. Sanders, however, was the home-state senator and the choice of most Vermont Democrats whose votes she will need in August.
In an interview two weeks ago with WCAX’s Kyle Midura, Minter disclosed that she was leaning toward voting for Sanders, saying, “I believe Bernie, uh, is going to be my candidate.” But she declined to offer an explicit endorsement, explaining that she was focused on running her own campaign.
“Who I vote for is my business, but since you asked, I will let you know,” she told Midura.
So it came as a surprise when Minter took the stage Tuesday at Sanders’ election night rally in Essex and delivered a passionate speech calling on his supporters to “keep the fire Bern-ing.”
“I’m here to tell you that I am so happy to be here tonight to support my senator, your senator, our senator, the next president of the United States!” she yelled to a crowd of roughly 4,000 potential voters.
Minter’s Democratic rival, former state senator Matt Dunne, was more than surprised. Dunne endorsed Sanders last October, knocked on doors on his behalf in New Hampshire and phone-banked for him in Vermont.
“It was disappointing to see Sue endorsing as late as she did, when she could have had more of an impact had she endorsed days or weeks sooner,” Dunne’s campaign manager, Nick Charyk, said Wednesday.
According to Charyk, the Sanders campaign asked Dunne last weekend to introduce the presidential candidate at his Super Tuesday celebration. On the morning of the rally, Charyk learned that “there was a small change in the program” because Minter had asked to speak, too.
“I said, ‘I’m a little taken aback by that because it was my understanding that Sue was not endorsing Bernie, even when explicitly asked: Are you endorsing Bernie?'” Charyk said. “The Sanders campaign told me Sue had talked to them and planned on issuing a press statement that day endorsing him and would be speaking at the rally.”
A spokesman for Sanders did not respond to a request for comment.
In an interview Wednesday, Minter claimed she had endorsed Sanders long ago. “I have been 100 percent behind Bernie, said I was voting for him, supporting him and, yes, endorsing him,” she said. “Bernie is my hero. I have worked closely with him. I am fully in support of Bernie and have been, just as I’ve been saying for weeks.”
So why did Minter tell Midura she was voting for Sanders but not formally endorsing him?
“What Kyle put up didn’t include all of the reasons why I’m supporting Bernie,” she explained. “And I think he made some kind of big distinction.”
But the day after Minter spoke to Midura, Seven Days‘ Terri Hallenbeck asked the gubernatorial candidate why she was differentiating between voting for Sanders and endorsing him.
“I’ve been focused on my race,” Minter said. “I’ve been focused on being the next governor — and knowing that the next governor has to have a strong working relationship with the next president.”
The first real evidence of an endorsement came just four hours before Vermont’s polls closed Tuesday, when Minter’s campaign sent a press release to some members of the media that said, “Today Democratic Candidate Sue Minter announced her endorsement of Bernie Sanders for President.”
Seven Days reporters, who are on Minter’s press list, did not receive a copy.
Why, if Minter had endorsed Sanders so long ago, did she wait until Election Day to announce it?
“Because there was some confusion about whether I was, in fact, endorsing him, so I wanted to make it very clear,” she explained.
Did the Sanders campaign, as Charyk intimated, ask her to issue the formal endorsement before giving her a speaking slot Tuesday night? Seven Days put that question to Minter five times Wednesday, and each time she declined to answer it, returning instead to her talking points.
“I put out a statement so that people would know exactly that I supported and endorsed and am voting for Bernie Sanders,” she said, repeating the non-answer several times.
Minter’s campaign manager, Molly Ritner, also wouldn’t say whether the Sanders campaign had pressed for a formal endorsement.
“This game Matt Dunne is trying to play of ‘who endorsed first’ is silly and insulting to Vermonters,” Ritner said in an email. “The press release was a formality. While we’d been public and vocal of our support for Bernie for several weeks, there was nothing ‘official’ in writing.”
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Sounds like it is Minter playing games, not Dunne.
Really, her first major act as a candidate is to wait until she can’t take the pressure anymore and then “endorse” Bernie and try to take credit for having been with him all along, all so she can get a speaking spot at his rally? Rather than at least sticking to her guns and being honest as a Hillary supporter. That’s leadership! And then to flip-flop on her “endorsement,” and play silly, transparent games about her flip-flop and take about 3 different positions and make excuses and try to deflect attention about it. That’s leadership? It’s pathetic. Barely a few months into her campaign and she’s already shown that she’s a flip-flopper, an excuse-maker, and a deflector. She’d make a worthy successor to the current governor.
I am not voting for Minter even tho I would appreciate seeing a woman governor. She was part of the Shumlin Administration in whom I am extremely disappointed. This endorsement of Bernie on voting day and wanting to speak seems very calculated and politics as usual and Bernie was generous to let her speak. I am voting for Matt Dunne.
This article and these comments remind me of the old adages: “making mountains out of molehills” and “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” and “biting the nose to spite the face.” Why?
Because even though I have had many issues with Peter Shumlin and some of his policies, Sue Minter’s work for the Agency of Transportation had nothing to do with any of those and was absolutely exemplary as far as I can tell (which is what I trust). I commend her work to rebuild the state’s infrastructure after Irene—especially assisting small businesses and vulnerable citizens to claim what FEMA was refusing to pay. No other bureaucrat or politician (with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders) would put out the 200% of effort that Minter did for months and months after the event. Because it was important.
So while I haven’t come out publicly to endorse either Minter or Dunne–because I have more to learn about Matt Dunne–I would prefer either one of these candidates to others who may step in. I have no hesitation about Sue Minter as a future Governor of Vermont. Perhaps I should favor her over Dunne because she is a woman and I have seen more evidence of her integrity. I like Matt Dunne too, so I’m waiting until something helps me to decide.
It’s way too bad that Paul Heinz wasted a whole column worrying about whether or not Sue Minter was newly endorsing or slow to endorse … when he could be taking Vermont Media to task for not covering these two candidates in ways that help the public to understand issues of consequence, like any major policy differences.
Perhaps Seven Days could sponsor a series of gubernatorial debates—if not in a physical arena then on your pages. No more nit picking!
“I have seen more evidence of her integrity.”
This whole sad flip-flopping and hiding the truth episode was hardly evidence of her “integrity.” More like evidence of her not being ready for prime time.
That may be how this article is framed, but I followed the links back to the original stories and I don’t buy it. From what I can tell, Sue Minter’s responses have been direct in each moment as reported, until they eventually evolved; and then she publicly clarified her position.
If you read all of what I wrote, you may agree that it’s a good thing that I’m not a public figure running for public office or people would start labeling me as “indecisive” or–once i do make up my mind–flip-floppy…. But actually, I think my slower, more calculating decision-making process is a healthy way to explore what might be a best answer in the long run. And I hold to my original statement: that Paul Heinz and “Seven Days” would better serve the pubic democratic process by focusing on real policy facts and actions.
Just because media wants to be emotionally evocative and polarizing, doesn’t mean that I (or even you, for that matter) have to buy into it. And I’m not.
Minter made a campaign call to me about three weeks ago. I asked her if she was going to endorse anyone for President. She said no because she wanted to be able to work with and have a good relationship with whoever got elected. I recognize that people can “evolve” and change their mind, but to wait until the primary votes are in to sort of endorse the candidate who won at his own victory rally tends to give opportunism a bad name.
I was at the Tuesday Bernie rally and when Sue Minter came on and roared out her endorsement of Sanders, I was shocked. That’s because just a few weeks before, she had phoned my home asking for support, and when questioned as to who she supported in the upcoming primary, she said she was going to stay neutral. I was disappointed to hear it, since I’m a big Bernie supporter, but hey, that’s her prerogative. Imagine my surprise to see an 11th hour endorsement. Matt Dunne made the decision to endorse Bernie last fall. He’s canvassed for Bernie in NH. He understands how the issues behind Sanders campaign are critical to Vermonters. Apparently, Sue Minter is just another candidate governed by what is politically safe. I’m supporting Matt Dunne.