In the past three weeks, outside groups have spent nearly $473,000 on television ads, mailers and other mass media supporting Vermont political candidates.
Not surprisingly, the bulk of that came from the conservative super PAC Vermonters First, which has been almost entirely bankrolled by Burlington super-donor Lenore Broughton.
Since Oct. 6, the organization has spent $322,000 on mass media. The next five biggest-spending outside groups all support Democratic candidates, but their combined spending in the past three weeks pales in comparison: just $138,000.
In that period, $192,000 of Vermonters First’s cash has gone to ads and mailers backing the Republican candidate for state treasurer, Wendy Wilton. Thanks to Vermont’s quirky campaign finance disclosure laws, it’s impossible to determine precisely how much money Vermonters First has spent on Wilton’s candidacy in total — but it’s likely far greater than that.
Since the super PAC was founded two months ago, it has spent at least $814,000 attempting to influence the election.
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Wow, with the liberals being so opposed to PAC’s as to demand a constitutional amendment by my count there are 5 liberal PAC”s and 1 conservative PAC.
I think this line pretty much sums it up perfectly
“Founded in July, the liberal Priorities PAC was the first group to register as a super PAC in Vermont; its filing actually prompted Attorney General Bill Sorrell to OK super PACs in state elections.”
Maybe the Progs and Dems should combine to form the Hypocrit Party.
There are a few facts that need to be pointed out in regard to jcarter1’s post. The number of PACs is not the relevant point here. The Republican Party in VT has exactly the same PACs listed here for the Dems. The Republican PACs just haven’t raised enough money to make this list. The Republicans have a Party PAC, a House PAC and a Senate PAC. jcarter1 knows this but he has chosen to ignore the facts. If we count numbers of PACs it would be equal.
It should also be noted that all the Dem PACs listed are traditional PACs not Super PACs. The only Super PACs on this list are Vermonters First, Vermont Leads, and Priorities PAC.
The money matters and that’s almost equal given the fact that one person has donated nearly as much money as all the other entities listed above combined. The money for the Dem PACs was raised in $2,000 contribution amounts or less not from one donor writing six figure checks every week.
Frankly I don’t think that PACs are the monsters that people (and virtually every politician)make them out to be. As long as we have the sort of transparency we see here we can make up our minds.
Democratic PACs raise money to support Democrats? I’m shocked! Look; it’s not like they sold drugs to raise the money, here’s the donors: it was all a free transaction and a public record.
One donor paid for the Republican PAC? Hey it’s her money. Personally I think it was a colossal waste but election day is coming and we’ll see what happens. Politicians need money to run, just like trucks do. As long as we know who pays the bills (and here we see a thorough job done) I think we can all be trusted to make an informed choice.