Gov. Phil Scott’s former political foe, Bruce Lisman, is spending thousands of dollars on radio, print and online advertisements promoting the governor’s teacher health insurance proposal.
Lisman, who lost to Scott in a bitter Republican primary last August, has reemerged to launch a statewide ad blitz urging Vermonters to weigh in with their legislators.
So far he’s spent $9,040 on newspaper ads, according to a disclosure form filed Wednesday with the Secretary of State’s Office. But according to his former campaign manager, Shawn Shouldice, who is now acting as his lobbyist, Lisman has also bought radio and online ads. Shouldice said they are running in the Burlington Free Press, St. Albans Messenger, Caledonian Record, Brattleboro Reformer, Bennington Banner, Manchester Journal, WDEV, WVMT and VTDigger.org.
Scott is engaged in an 11th-hour struggle with Democratic lawmakers, who are resisting his plan to negotiate a statewide teacher health care plan. The governor and Republican legislators claim the plan is the state’s best chance at saving $26 million. House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) say they don’t want to interfere with collective bargaining and suggest school districts can achieve the same savings, which could then go to the education fund.
Lisman’s ad campaign echoes Scott’s rhetoric. In the radio segment, a woman states that “legislators have just one opportunity to save millions of taxpayer dollars every year.”
The disclosure form only lists print outlets, suggesting Lisman’s expenses will exceed $9,040. He has registered as lobbyist employer, following state law, according to state elections director Will Senning.
Lisman, who has stayed out of the spotlight since losing the August primary, also returned to Twitter Wednesday to promote the bargaining proposal. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
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Retired Bear Stearn stockbroker Lisman’s name gives me the shivers, I wouldn’t trust a Wall Street bailout creep like him to hold my coffee. I support Scott but if Lisman thinks this is a good idea, I will have to rethink my position. Given Bruce Lisman’s track record, he will likely harm any program from Phil Scott.
Oh, and Brucie…if you think spending a few thou will weasel your way into Gov Scott’s good graces, you’re sorely mistaken. We remember your nasty lying tactics trying to win the primary. Vermonters were too smart to fall for your message then, and we won’t fall for it now. Please go crawl back into your ridiculously oversized mansion and leave governance to those who didn’t almost bankrupt the entire country.
Retired Wall Street executive Bruce Lisman is a pox upon the great state of Vermont. He showed his true colors during his shameful attempts to destroy the reputation of our governor, a good man with whom you may disagree politically but who is a devoted and conscientious public servant.
Lisman has been living high on the hog after leaving his bankrupt firm, along with the rest of the Wall Street crowd who almost brought down the world’s financial system. But that was in 2008, Lisman is hoping we all have short memories. Unfortunately for people like him, losing your home to the rapacious greed and fraud of Wall Street bankers is the kind of thing that people remember for a really long time.
Don’t get too excited people you do know that our spending on teachers salaries and specially their health care is unsustainable. In what other profession would you get huge salaries and health benefits as teachers do in South Burlington and work for a fraction of the year?
Wouldn’t it more fair if in a state that works on fairness, if we had a more uniform structure for teacher pay and health care? So that the teacher in Winooski can do as well as the one in South Burlington, or are we too elitist for that.
It’s been a pleasant break with Bruce Lisman laying low after his humiliating and expensive election loss. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world instead of articles about his spending money trying to buy elections or public opinion, we saw an article about him giving back some of his millions of dollars to the taxpayers whose lives were devastated by the collapse of his former bank, Bear Stearns?
It’s been a pleasant break having Bruce Lisman lay low after his humiliating and expensive election loss. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful world instead of more articles about spending his money to buy political office or influence public opinion, we saw an article about how he’s giving some of his millions of dollars to the taxpayers whose lives were devastated by the collapse of his too-big-to-fail bank, Bear Sterns? It is sickening that these profiteers aren’t in prison!
Susan, they didn’t almost bring down the financial system, they were successful and should be in jail for it. And now these guys are strutting around telling us how to run our lives using our money!!
The only reason we survived is because you and I bailed them out, no other reason, and if you saw the devastation around the world you would know this wasn’t confined to our country. This had the potential to be much more devastating than the Great Depression.