Republican candidate Bruce Lisman launched the first television advertisement of the 2016 Vermont gubernatorial race Tuesday. The 60-second ad is both a personal introduction and a blistering condemnation of Vermont’s situation.
“Vermont is in a very bad place, and it’s entirely self-inflicted,” Lisman says, as he appears in the ad, which is slated to appear on WCAX, WPTZ, WFFF and WVNY.
A WCAX filing with the Federal Communications Commission reveals Lisman has contracts for $28,000 to air the ads on the four stations. The WCAX contract, handled on Lisman’s behalf by the national Republican strategy firm McLaughlin & Associates, runs through February 11 for 26 spots. “It’s a modest buy, part of our overall communications strategy to introduce Bruce to Vermonters,” said Lisman’s campaign manager Shawn Shouldice.
The ad starts with the foreboding narrator’s voice commonly used in political ads. “Storm clouds threaten Vermont,” the voice says. “Higher taxes, health care prices escalating, a heroin epidemic and a lack of jobs threatening our youth.”
Then the narrator’s tone turns neutral amid images of Lisman and Vermont, including him walking down the street with Shouldice. The narrator continues: “Bruce Lisman is running for governor to bring a new direction to Vermont. Bruce is a Vermont native, from a working-class family in Burlington’s Old North End. Always working. Waiter, taxi driver, roofer, file clerk. UVM grad. Bruce became a successful businessman who’s paid it back to Vermont.”
Lisman himself returns to the screen. “Here’s my plan,” he says. “We’re going to hold the line on taxes, make our state more affordable and keep our young people right here. We’re going to cap budget growth, fix our broken health care system, so consumers have more choices.” He doesn’t offer specifics of how he will do that in the ad.
“I’m going to lead Vermont in a new direction,” Lisman concludes.
With New Hampshire’s presidential primary scheduled for next week, Lisman’s ads will be competing for attention with a slew of presidential ads aimed at Vermont stations’ New Hampshire viewers.
Lisman, a retired Wall Street executive who lives in Shelburne, is contending for the Republican nomination with Lt. Gov. Phil Scott. Democratic incumbent Gov. Peter Shumlin is not seeking reelection.
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I really hope Vermonters look at Bruce Lisman’s track record and not be swayed by the huge amount of money he’s spending to influence this election and overwhelm the other candidates with the power of his purse. I believe Vermont’s mini-Trump would be a big step in the wrong direction for our beloved state, literally anyone would make a better governor. Any candidate other than Lisman would be a big improvement over Shumlin. Fear mongering is a contemptible way to try and win elections.
I cannot disagree with the previous comment more. Vermonters SHOULD be scared. Peter Shumlin has led us down a path of ruin. Bruce has strong Vermont roots and the real-world experience to help us regain a foothold on economic viability. Phil Scott is part of the problem and unlike Bruce has offered no new ideas. I’m for Lisman all the way.
The problem is the status quo politicians who spend and spend and do not think any normal business rules apply. Getting a business man to run the state would be a return to when Dick Snelling and Howard dean were able to balance budgets. Dean understood the healthcare system was way too expensive for us to afford but Shumlin and Miller do not care – pay for everything they can think of with public money – there comes a time there is no more money and a business man understands this
Voted Democrat in the last 6 Presidential elections and used to vote Democrat in Vermont until 2012. It turns out I made a major mistake in voting for Peter Shumlin in 2010, simply because he had the “D” next to his name, assuming he was a worthy heir to Howard Dean and would continue the kind of fiscal responsibility Dean embodied, not to mention Dean and Kunin’s sensitivity to smart growth, local land use planning and the importance of Act 250. By 2012, it was entirely obvious that Shumlin was no ordinary Democrat, and not in a good way. $150 million plus later down the drain on the health care nonsense; destruction of Act 250 and Kunin’s Act 200/local zoning so his crony capitalist wind industrialist campaign donors could profit; ever sky-rocketing property taxes and he still signs the universal preschool bill that has no long-term funding source & was authored by a state representative who doesn’t even have kids! Closes VT Yankee in his Windham County backyard, for probably good reason, including protecting his property values, and then turns around and calls anyone in the state who challenges wind and solar NIMBY. Matt Dunne and Sue Mintner unfortunately seem to be going same direction. Perhaps if Doug Racine or Deb Markovitz had won, things would have been different. Unfortunately they didn’t and this is where we are. Never met Phil Scott or Bruce Lisman but as far as I can tell, Phil Scott speaks only in the vaguest generalities and refuses to commit to anything in specifics. As things stand today, Bruce Lisman will have my vote.
So we have our own little Trump Junior. Notices how he downplays his career with Bear Stearns/Morgan and would have you think of him as a taxi driver! His CFV stint was a stunt after all, to disguise himself as independent. This run will go down in flames along with other plutes who have squandered wealth trying to purchase high office in VT. Back to your multimillion suite in Manhattan, Mr. L.
The posting by Chris is accurate. Many people who have aligned as Democrats feel betrayed by the Democratic Party and the Shumlin administration, and their Democratic representatives, as well. Sadly, the Democrats have not learned the lesson from the last election when Shumlin barely beat an unknown Republican who had never held office.
As of now, both Sue Minter and Matt Dunne are professing the same policies of the Shumlin administration. And this is further infuriating many.
While Vermont has had “Smartgrowth” on the books for decades, it is failing miserably. I would rate its effectiveness between a D- and an F in implementation. And the same with ACT 250, because there are major roadblocks for the public and a Town to participate (party status, notification, time commitment, cost of attorney fees, etc.). Plus, ACT 250 continues to be weakened to the point of being meaningless, and board appointees do not have the resources to implement what’s on the books, and often bow to political pressure.
And then there is the PSB process. Many people who think of themselves as Democrats have turned to their legislators and the Shumlin administration about how the PSB gives Towns no say in important projects that affects their communities. All people want is a voice, and to be listened to when they present data. Instead they always get labeled NIMBYs, even though most of these people don’t live near the proposals.
AARP successfully pointed out that the VT Gas pipeline made no economic sense, not to mention the climate change issues. Yet the PSB overruled them and approved the faulty project, anyway.
And then there are issues of ethics, campaign finance, and how and many local boards are now “owned” by development interests. Only Lisman has championed Ethics Reform.
Before you go trashing Lisman, you just might want to hear what he has to say. I bet those casting negativity have not bothered to check out his positions.
You might just want to double check the timeline of his work at Bear Sterns and eventual issues. You may also want to check out his position and what he did. If I was a secretary at Bear 20 years ago, am I guilty as you charge as well??
Shumlin and his minion demo legislature has put our State in a bad position and on an unsustainable path. We better get someone in there to fix financial woes and attract new business. More companies and people have had enough and are moving out.
Not only should Lisman have a chance to weigh in, but all serious candidates should be reviewed if they want to take over the mess.