It took all campaign season, but we finally got a photo of Lenore Broughton, the Burlington heiress who’s bankrolling the conservative super PAC Vermonters First to the tune of $1 million this election. 

Despite her outsize influence on state elections this year, Broughton keeps a low public profile. She declines every interview request she gets and has turned away numerous reporters looking for quotes from her front door this fall.

Prior to a recent Seven Days story and others that followed, there wasn’t much known about her background or the source of her sizable fortune. And there don’t appear to be any photos of her on the web.

Our last attempt to photograph the elusive Broughton didn’t go so well. She walked away from a public meeting rather than be photographed. So we had to get a little more aggressive on the second try.

Seven Days hired freelance photographer Andy Duback to photograph Broughton at a public meeting of a board on which she serves. On Monday, Duback snapped this photo at Burlington City Hall as Broughton was getting on an elevator following the meeting. Along with being a member of the Burlington Telecom Cable Advisory Council, Broughton serves on the Burlington Board for Registration of Voters. That’s the volunteer panel charged with maintaining Burlington’s voter lists.

Andy Bromage was a Seven Days staff writer from 2009-2012, and the news editor from 2012-2013.

16 replies on “Photo: Conservative Super PAC Funder Lenore Broughton Caught on Camera”

  1. Maybe she’s afraid of the lunatics out there that lean to the left. And yes there are a few out there on both sides. But it’s pretty easy to see why someone in Chittenden County who supports Republican Candidates does not want to be shoved out there on the internet for every wack job to see.

  2. I can understand why she would want to keep a low profile. The left are a bunch of intolerant thugs who resort to violence and character assassination when someone publicly deviates from their established talking points.
    Now she’s a target.

  3. I say when you pump 1 mil into an election don’t go cry because you had a photo taken? really? what did you expect would happen? and why, and what do you have to hide, that you are trying to use money to influence. I don’t understand why fundraising alone and letting the truth stand on it’s own without money having to project it for all to see, is a problem. If she has no shame with herself, then why hide. I’d have a hard time looking my children in the eye, spending 1 mil on an election and walking by the homeless guy down the street, that 1 million could have furthered a lot of other causes that had nothing to do with wendy playing in the sandbox over house renting…how many of hundreds of thousands to fight over renting. Nope couldn’t look my kids in the eyes if I blew money on that instead of coming together and deciding upon a way to serve people face to face and bless them and fill a true need, hunger, help,education, wow…I’d hide too I guess!

  4. Ms. Broughton serves on two city boards, volunteers at the polls, and she’s a good neighbor, too. Let’s see, the complaint is… that she is going against “the system” by putting her own message out instead of giving money to a candidate. The shock is a little disingenuous. Money has always influenced elections. Ms. Broughton is a person who lives in our community, she’s not a faceless corporation. She chooses to control the message she pays for. The hypocrisy of complainers is hilarious, especially the complaints from members of the BTV group that is promoting the bonds. Let’s see their faces, Mr. Duback.

  5. I don’t know why Ms. Broughton would feel like she has to hide. As far as I can see, she’s just an involved citizen (with some opinions that probably differ from my own). I tip my hat to her. The problem isn’t people who think differently, it’s people who don’t bother to think at all.
    Still, not Andy’s finest moment as a photographer.

  6. Really. Ok, so she’s a political figure. But if she really does not want to be photographed, why does Mr. Duback think it’s necessary or appropriate to hunt her down, stalk her, and photograph her? And why do the rest of you at Seven Days think it’s appropriate or amusing to participate in this? I didn’t need to see this woman’s picture, and nobody else did, either.
    Some people can’t seem to get enough attention, and are happy to make a public spectacle of themselves. Others prefer not to have their images splashed across the newspapers. For those people, why don’t you just resist your urges and respect their wishes? This is Vermont, after all.

  8. “Welcome to the jungle we’ve got fun and games
    We got everything you want honey, we know the names
    We are the people that can find whatever you may need
    If you got the money honey we got your disease …”

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