State Auditor Tom Salmon said on Friday that he isn’t running for re-election and is likely moving his family to Washington D.C. to work for the federal government.
Salmon (pictured) said he would finish out his term, which ends in January 2013.
“I have a number of options presented to me, and some still out there, in God’s hands,” Salmon said in a statement released Friday.
“It is most likely I will land in federal service in the IG [inspector general] or CFO [Chief Financial Officers Council] communities as my passion continues to be improving government performance and better federal-state-local intergovernmental collaboration. I have an offer from a CPA firm as well,” the statement said.
In a phone interview Friday, Salmon told Seven Days that he has a “pretty good idea” what job he’ll be going to but hasn’t accepted a job offer yet. He said he has a “half dozen potential jobs that I could see myself going to. But I have an offer from a large CPA firm as well.” He wouldn’t name the firm. Salmon said it’s “very likely” the job will take him to Washington D.C.
One factor driving Salmon’s decision was money. The auditor said he has three college-age kids and needs a job that’ll pay the tuition bills.
“I’ve never chosen a job for a salary but now I’m in a position where I have a skill set that probably can earn between $160,000 and $220,000 reasonably,” Salmon says. “And that would prevent our family from strangling under debt.”
Salmon’s announcement comes a day before Vermont Republicans are set to gather in Montpelier on Saturday for their statewide convention. Salmon said two other Republicans have expressed interest in running for auditor: state Sen. Vince Illuzzi of Essex/Orleans, and state Sen. Kevin Mullin of Rutland.
Salmon’s exit creates an open seat for auditor for the first time in years and is seemingly a boost for Democratic candidate Doug Hoffer, a Progressive-leaning policy analyst based in Burlington who lost to Salmon by 7 points in 2010. Hoffer reacted to Salmon’s news with a statement saying he wished the departing auditor well.
“I’m running for State Auditor regardless of the opponent. I’m going to tell voters about my qualifications, my experience, and my plans for the job,” Hoffer said. “I have begun meeting with Democrats and Progressives around the state and I look forward to the campaign.”
This article appears in May 16-22, 2012.
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Whatever.
Hoffer is not a Democrat. He’s a dyed-in-the-wool, kool-aid-drinking, orthodox Prog.
A regular vladimir Putin. (just thought I’d save you the keystrokes)
No. That’s Shumlin. Hoffer isn’t power hungry and cronyistic. He’s just a Prog ideologue.
I don’t need you to type or speak for me. Thanks.
Vince Illuzzi is the boy who cried wolf when it comes to running for higher office.
Over the years, he has at various times said that he was looking at running for Governor, for Lieutenant Governor, for Attorney General, for Secretary of State and, now, for Auditor – as well as past flirtations with the US Senate and Congress.
But just like every other previous cycle, these musings will disappear, he will simply file for re-election to his gerrymandered Orleans-Essex Senate district, only to float his name in another two years for another office.
I’ll believe it when I see it – but until then, it is nothing more than Vince’s continuing need to get people talking about him.
“Over the years, he has at various times said that he was looking at running for Governor, for Lieutenant Governor, for Attorney General, for Secretary of State and, now, for Auditor – as well as past flirtations with the US Senate and Congress.”
So, I guess he’s a little like Bernie Sanders. Moved to Vermont in 1964. Started his political career by running for a U.S. Senate seat in his new state in 1972. Hey, if you’re a political careerist, why wait until you actually KNOW something about your new state and you’re actually qualified to run for US Senator? And, hey, why start small, like, oh, town selectboard or state rep or state senate? No — go for the gusto! Run for the US Senate 8 years after you move here, and for Governor later that very same year! Nevermind that you get 2% of the vote in your run for Senate and 1% in your run for Governor! And then just keep running for something — anything — under the Liberty Union banner or whatever other label that’s convenient. Run again for US Senate in 1974 and get 4%. Run again for Governor in 1976 and get 6%! Just keep running for something until you finally squeak into the Burlington Mayor’s seat by 10 votes! Then in 1988 start running for Congress! Run against Pete Smith in 1988 and lose. Then run against Smith again in 1990 and squeak past him by accusing Smith of being in favor of gun control! That’s right, win a Congressional seat against a decent and honorable liberal Republican by appealing to the gun nuts!
Maybe Vince wants to get people talking about him. But he learned from soneone else.
The difference is that Bernie Sanders actually had the courage to go out there and run – even when he knew he was going to lose. He cared enough about the issues he advocated to campaign for them, even when it was inevitable that he had no chance of winning. “Political careerists” don’t run for offices they can’t win.
Illuzzi, on the other hand, never quite has the courage to actually run for any of the offices he floats his name for … he puts himself out there and hopes that everyone will fall all over themselves begging him to do it – handing him the office on a silver platter. But then he looks at the race and realises that he would have to go out and work for it, he’d have to raise money and spent 6 months running all over the state meeting voters – and that even if he did that, he still might lose.
So Illuzzi inevitably chickens out.
But hey, wouldn’t want to let the facts get in the way of you using an inaccurate and irrelevant comparison to trash Bernie.
“He cared enough about the issues he advocated to campaign for them,”
No, he cared enough about himself, and his ego, and his quest for power, and getting on the government payroll for the rest of his life, that he ran for U.S. Senate after barely moving to Vermont, and then continuing to run every two years after being rejected time and time again.
At least Illuzzi, whom I don’t like, was born here. At least Illuzzi ran for lower office.
You trash Illuzzi and then get all upset when someone calls Bernie out for being the egomaniacal, intolerant, carpetbagging career politican that he is. Get some perspective.