Five days after falling short in persuading legislators to elect him governor, Scott Milne registered as a lobbyist Tuesday, an unusual move state officials ruled he needed to make at the close of an equally unusual campaign.
Milne says he paid $325, including a $250 late fee, to register as a lobbyist this week. The filing is retroactive to January 2, Milne says, because that’s when he posted an online video in the hopes of persuading lawmakers to vote for him, putting him over $500 in spending.
Milne, a Republican business owner who has never held elected office, came 2,434 votes short of defeating two-term incumbent Democrat Peter Shumlin in November. Because no candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote, the election went to the legislature, which voted last Thursday 110-69 for Shumlin. Leading up to the vote, Milne urged Vermonters to call on their legislators to support for him if they were unhappy with the direction of the state.
That action qualifies as lobbying, according to Assistant Attorney General Michael Duane. Lobbyists who spend $500 or more on their efforts are required to register with the secretary of state’s office, he says.
Milne says he was surprised to learn earlier this month that traditional election rules were no longer germane and that what he was doing was lobbying, not campaigning. But he chose not to fight the ruling.
“The election turned out to be a one-in-150-year event that wasn’t taken into account in the state’s campaign finance laws,” Milne says.
According to Milne, he was late in filing because, “I just didn’t get around to it. I don’t have anybody to delegate it to anymore.”
His registration as a lobbyist, in which he lists his subject matter as “good government,” is good for a year. Milne says he has no immediate plans to lobby. But, he adds, “I think there might be an opportunity if we see some really bad moves coming out of Montpelier, there might be an opportunity to let people know about it.”
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
Scott Milne, Professional Political Troll. Because anybody anywhere wanted to see any campaign ads after an election.
Maybe it’s time that Vermonter’s realize that neither Shumlin or our representatives actually listen to us. They are too interested in listening to the NEA, VPIRG and all the other special interest groups out there. Meanwhile, the average Vermonter gets to pick up the tab in property taxes.
Time to change the entire guard in Montpelier or just revolt.
The Assistant Attorney General is clearly in violation of the Vermont State Constitution
which makes it clear that the election lasts until the governor is elected which does
not occur until the opening of the General Assembly. The governor is not elected
during the voting in November. Read the Vermont State Constitution!
The Assist. AG should be fired, or be ordered to a “time out” and punished
for unlawful extortion under the color of authority, where he has to sit in a room
and write out the Vermont State Constitution over and over again by hand 100 times!
Didn’t they teach him in law school that the word “shall” in the law, is mandatory?
But, Scott Milne will make a great lobbyist! Go, Scotty, go!
http://www.leg.state.vt.us/statutes/const2…
Constitution of the State of Vermont AS ESTABLISHED JULY 9, 1793, AND AMENDED
THROUGH DECEMBER 14, 2010
§ 47.
[ELECTION OF GOVERNOR, LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR AND TREASURER]
The voters of each town SHALL, on the day of election for choosing Representatives
to attend the General Assembly, bring in their votes for Governor, with the name
fairly written, to the Constable, who SHALL seal them up, and write on them,
Votes for Governor, and deliver them to the Representatives chosen to attend
the General Assembly; and at the opening of the General Assembly, there SHALL
be a committee appointed out of the Senate and House of Representatives, who,
after being duly sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust, SHALL proceed to receive,
sort, and count the votes for Governor, and declare the person who has the major
part of the votes, to be Governor for the two years ensuing.
Mr. Milne had no choice but to register as a lobbyist given the unique nature of the legislature’s involvement. The legislature’s election of Peter Shumlin as Governor was a victory for the Old Boys Club, the same Club that has destroyed much of what America used to be. I voted for Scott Milne and was proud to do so. In many respects, Gov. Shumlin himself turned me Republican – – at least for an election.
When a sitting Governor ignores two Certified Mail pieces of correspondence (one that included a copy of the 59 page unsealed federal complaint) that memorialized wholesale fraud at the historic Brattleboro Retreat and whose senior staff refused to return phone calls to me as I sought their support for a State of Vermont False Claims Act (a comprehensive anti-fraud law that Vermont lacks) demonstrates overwhelmingly to me that Mr. Shumlin no longer values his constituents sufficiently to acknowledge them.
The election by the joint session of the legislature was the day they should have held Mr. Shumlin accountable for his false promises of a single payer health system and delivered judgment for his failure to timely release the financial structure of his health care proposal that was due a year ago.
Finally, Mr. Milne deserves our collective praise for standing up and trying to make a difference for all of us. As a whistle-blower in federal health care fraud case, I know first-hand the sacrifice it takes to fight for our state and country. I salute Mr. Milne for standing tall and trying to make a difference for our great state. Too few are willing to endure hardship or sacrifice for the benefit of all of us.
Thomas Joseph
http://www.brattlebororetreat.info/
Twitter: relator_joseph
Lobbyist Milne? How About Shumlin Potentate of the Vermont Lobbyists?
Hold on now, if Mr. Milne was required to register as a lobbyist in order to solicit legislator’s support – shouldn’t Emperor Shumlin be required to do the same. He and his minions were certainly as engaged as Mr. Milne was in arm twisting to gain support. Further, the costs of Shumlin’s use of staff and fellow paid Democratic “operatives” in the effort to be reelected by the Legislature most assuredly dwarfed any monies spent by Milne.
So come on Emperor Shumlin – get out you wallet and pony-up the five hundred bucks, what is fair for the goose is fair for the gander! (Heaven knows the ladies say you are the king of the ganderers! or was that king of the gawkers?)
H. Brooke Paige
Washington, Vermont
To: H. Brooke Paige in Washington, Vermont…very articulate commentary. Well done and bravo!
It’s time to Empower Woman and put the Old Boys Club, the same club that has destroyed America – – out of business once and for all.
Thomas Joseph
United States ex. rel. Joseph v. The Brattleboro Retreat
http://www.brattlebororetreat.info/
Twitter: relator_joseph