Fresh off his run for the presidency, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed 18 candidates for Vermont state office this week. They included incumbents and challengers seeking offices ranging from state representative to lieutenant governor.
There was one notable omission: As of Saturday morning, Sanders had not weighed in on Vermont’s race for governor.
That hasn’t kept one Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former state senator Matt Dunne, from tying himself at the hip to Sanders. Dunne has repeatedly invoked the progressive icon’s name in television advertisements and, late this week, he sent a mailer throughout the state mimicking Sanders’ campaign logo.
“If you still feel the Bern,” it says on one side of the piece, “You can still get it Dunne.”
On the other side, it reads, “For Bernie Sanders’ supporters, Matt Dunne is the clear choice for governor.”
In an open letter to the Dunne campaign, Brattleboro resident Rebecca Bartlett complained that the mailer was deceptive.
“I am trying to figure out how your campaign can constantly refer to Bernie — and use his campaign’s art on your fliers — without such an endorsement,” she wrote, copying Seven Days. “This looks to me like craven coat-tailing. It has greatly diminished your candidacy in my eyes. I’m not a Bernista; I just care about the state of our party in Vermont and don’t like seeing elections debased by deceptive campaigning.”
A Dunne opponent, former Democratic senator Peter Galbraith, also criticized the mailer. He alleged that it pilfered his own proposals — to ban corporate campaign contributions and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour — to make Dunne appear more progressive.
“The things he’s proposing on the back are largely plagiarized from me. What’s on the front is graphics plagiarized from Bernie Sanders,” Galbraith said. “That says something about his character.”
Dunne’s campaign defended the mailer.
“It’s no secret that we’re aggressively courting Bernie Sanders supporters,” spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said in a statement, arguing that her boss has shared Sanders’ values throughout his political career. “While we have reminded Vermonters that Matt was the only candidate for governor to endorse Bernie before primary day, we’ve never claimed a Bernie Sanders endorsement. As the mailer states, Matt has been endorsed by Bernie’s campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, and, as we announced yesterday, by nine national delegates for Bernie.”
Sanders’ own campaign has not cried foul.
“Not using our actual logo but certainly evocative of it,” Weaver said in an email. “Doesn’t imply an endorsement to me. Does look like he is trying to convey to voters that he shares Bernie’s views.”
So who has Sanders endorsed?
For statewide office, he has backed only Sen. David Zuckerman (P/D-Chittenden), who is running for lieutenant governor. For the state Senate, he threw his support behind three incumbents this week: Sen. Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden), Sen. Dick McCormack (D-Windsor) and Sen. Anthony Pollina (P/D-Washington). In May, Sanders endorsed a fourth state Senate candidate, Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington), who is running to represent Chittenden County.
Sanders has endorsed 14 candidates for state representative, according to aide Phil Fiermonte. They are:
- Jill Charbonneau (Addison-1)
- Mari Cordes (Addison-4)
- Rachael Fields (Bennington 2-1)
- Robin Chesnut-Tangerman (Rutland-Bennington)
- Diana Gonzalez (Chittenden 6-7)
- Selene Colburn (Chittenden 6-4)
- Sandy Haas (Windsor-Rutland)
- Katherine Sims (Orleans-Lamoille)
- Susan Hatch Davis (Orange 1)
- Paul Poirier (Washington 3)
- Cindy Weed (Franklin 7)
- Mollie Burke (Windham 2-2)
- John Moran (Windham-Bennington)
- Melody Reed (Windsor 3-1)
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I take no issue with this. Neither did Bernie’s campaign manager. Bernie and Matt share a common vision for Vermont, and this was a clever tactic to let voters know.
I do take issue with Peter Galbraith jumping at every opportunity to criticize Matt. How can Galbraith say Matt plagiarized his ideas? Peter Galbraith was surely not the first to say “let’s implement universal health care and a $15 minimum wage.”
Galbraith was however the first to call a fellow Democratic candidate a “fucker.”
Matt Dunne was an early supporter and endorser of Bernie Sanders. He has every right to point that out in any way he can. It is likely that after next Tuesday Galbraith will be sitting home alone with his Kurdish oil money. I am working hard to make sure that Matt gets the nomination. The alternative is Sue Minter. Minter has the support of Hillary superdelegates like Howard Dean. Minter called my home before Super Tuesday asking for my support. I asked her who she was supporting in the primary and was told she was neutral, as she wanted to have good relations with whoever became President. It was quite a surprise to see her up on the stage, less than two weeks latter, at a Super Tuesday rally for Bernie in Essex singing the praises of Bernie. Minter plays both ends against the middle – Matt does not. I ran into Matt Door knocking for Bernie in NH. I did not run into Minter or the oil man.
>”This looks to me like craven coat-tailing. It has greatly diminished your candidacy in my eyes. I’m not a Bernista; I just care about the state of our party in Vermont and don’t like seeing elections debased by deceptive campaigning.”
Give this writer the award for “concern troll of the year.”
Bonus points for getting “Sandernista” wrong.
Matt Dunce is against Act 46 and for tuitioning – a classist and regressive system that ghettoizes the poor and special needs and provides undue privilege and benefit to a few. Matt is “all in” for his own. He is a selfish, shapeshifter with no respect for those around him and it is unconscionable that Jeff Weaver and Ben & Jerry, cited as endorsers on the flier, have not looked sufficiently into Matt’s lies to know that greed underlies any premise of a liberal agenda.
I think where Matt and Bernie align the strongest is the belief that all issues tie back to the economy. You need a strong economy to tackle environment, social services, infrastructure, education, etc… so investing in broadband and making VT the telecommuting capital of the country will help grow our population of taxpayers. And with that growth, we’ll attract next-economy businesses. Matt’s vision looks forward to an economy that supports traditional industries, but reaches forward to set us up for the growing digital economy where tomorrow’s best jobs will be.
Dunne has publicized his door knocking and phone banking for Bernie more than any policy position. It makes me cringe a little how clearly opportunistic Dunne is and how stupid he seems to think us voters.
More telling is that, given all of Dunne’s “support” Bernie has clearly distanced himself from Dunne.
But what sets off alarm bells from me is that the bombastic and misogynistic Jeff Weaver finds it crucially important to throw his weight behind Dunne. Even us white men should stand up in solidarity against the sexist crap Weaver spews. I am embarrassed to have ever supported the Dunne now. I just want this primary to be over.
I support Matt Dunne. He is at least honest and I believe trustworthy. I have met both he and Peter Galbraith. Unfortunately, Galbraith has demonstrated to me that he cannot be trusted. For example, his campaign manager, Ian Moskowitz, told me that he stole the portrait image of Peter used on the main page of his web site from a Harvard publication. He then photoshopped it onto another possibly purloined graphic of the Vermont Hills. Additionally, he has treated his supporters badly during the campaign. He does not support the local. He pays the out of state firms, then he chumps and dumps the local! If this is the way he treats those who support him then it would only go down hill from there. Matt gets my vote!
Matt Dunne is honest and decent through and through. He is by far the closest candidate in values to Bernie Sanders. His combination of impressive work in the private sector and his years of dedication to public service will make him a Governor we should all be proud to stand behind.
Dunne implied through this mailing that Bernie had endorsed him. I want nothing to do with the guy now. It’s as deceptive as can be…