Scot Shumski, a Burlington school board member currently running for state rep, has adamantly denied claims that he has ties to the Tea Party. But a Twitter account linked to the Republican candidate has explicitly defended the Tea Party doctrine and consistently espoused views that align with it.
Shay Totten, a former Seven Days columnist, identified Shumski as the the owner of the Twitter handle, @slappywhyte, in a post on his personal blog Tuesday morning. Tweets like the one below suggest support for the Tea Party.
Another tweet praises Ted Cruz. Several others quote philosopher and Tea Party hero Ayn Rand.
Many of the tweets lambast President Obama, accusing him of practicing totalitarianism and socialism. Others criticize the “mainstream media” for an alleged liberal bias. The GOP is also the subject of ire, for failing to stand up to liberals.
Several tweets criticize proposals to give amnesty to illegal immigrants — one, addressing Democrats’ rejection of the term “illegal alien,” suggests calling them “foreign criminals” instead.
When asked about the account, Shumski acknowledged he tweets from it, but he said it’s a group account shared by a “random collection of individuals.” He declined to provide verification that other people share the account, and he declined Seven Days‘ request that he confirm whether several individual tweets belonged to him.
“I’m not going to do this McCarthyism. I’m not going to sit there and go through every single tweet that was listed out there. If you want to see my official positions, they are at @scotshumski. That’s my Twitter handle.”
(Multiple pieces of evidence link Shumski to @slappywhyte: Among them, he has posted on Front Porch Forum from an email account with slappywhyte in the address, and a geocoding site also shows the majority of tweets originating from an address in the New North End that matches that of Shumski’s house.)
The last tweet from @slappywhyte was made 11 days ago. Shumski has recently begun deleting tweets from the account. In a statement released Tuesday, he said it was not an attempt to obscure anything. “Have I deleted tweets from all the Twitter accounts I access? Yep! But this notion that I deleted tweets since being contacted by the media is laughable. Nope, I haven’t deleted a single tweet since I was contacted by a reporter — which happened to be this morning.” (His full statement can be accessed here.)
Among recently deleted posts is one from January 14, which read, “LOL. You’re missing the point. The #Muslim community doesn’t act or react based on logic.”
In his statement and during an interview, Shumski continued to deny any affiliation with the Tea Party movement. “How do you prove something that doesn’t exist? How can I prove to you I’m not doing something? If I don’t have a Tea Party membership and I don’t give money to a group that has Tea Party in its name, how much further can I prove to you that I’m not in the Tea Party?”
Asked whether he supports the Tea Party platform, Shumski responded, “Tell me what that is and I’ll tell you whether I agree with it.” Seven Days listed several tenets — reduce government, reduce the deficit, tighten border security — and Shumski responded by saying, “There were Tea Parties that were running against one another. How would I know what every Tea Party across America stands for … I’ve made it clear I have my beliefs that I go by.”
Later he added, “When I run for Congress, Alicia, then you and I can talk about all those issues you wanted to talk about. Until then, I’m just a school board member.”
The Tea Party has gained prominence during the last decade — helped along by celebrity politicians such as Sarah Palin and Cruz. It’s a decentralized movement, with multiple organizations carrying the mantle. Since it’s not actually a political party, Tea Party activists don’t have a formal moniker. A sizable Tea Party faction within the GOP has challenged “establishment” Republicans on a regular basis.
Burlington residents, including City Councilor Tom Ayres, a Democrat, have repeatedly raised concerns about Shumski’s alleged connection to the Tea Party. After Burlington resident Karen Pearo wrote a post on Front Porch Forum claiming Shumski’s ties to that movement, Shumski responded with a post of his own, accusing Pearo of “McCarthyism.” His post continued, “I have never given money to a Tea Party organization, held membership in a Tea Party organization, identified myself with the Tea Party moniker, or undergone Tea Party training.”
Shumski’s mother and his wife, who identified herself as a Democrat, each authored posts denying that he identified with the Tea Party.
Ayres, Pearo and others have also called attention to Shumski’s campaign donations from well-known local conservative donor Lenore Broughton, as well as his connection to the conservative group American Majority. That organization has a Vermont chapter run by the former treasurer of Broughton’s super PAC, Tayt Brooks. While there is no official affiliation between this group and Tea Party organizations, a June blog post on the former’s website praises Tea Party gains in Wisconsin.
Shumski attended an American Majority training last winter, two months before he won his school board seat. In May, he told Seven Days’ Paul Heintz that he thought the training was run by the Ethan Allen Institute. Since then, he’s continued to downplay any connection to the group.
In response to Totten’s post, Shumski reiterated this stance. “A one-day training from American Majority does not convert citizens to Tea Party patriots (but if it did, that would be an amazing process to witness!). But thank you, Shay, for your McCarthyism — er, diligence — in reporting on a training that has been reported both in the media and local neighborhood message boards.”
In addition to @slappywhyte, Shumski has two other Twitter accounts — a personal one (@3kids is easy) followed by 86 people, and one for his school board and political campaign: @ScotShumski, which has 213 followers. By far the most established is @slappywhyte, which has 7,568 followers. Shumski said he participates in multiple other “group Twitter accounts” on many topics, including nature and baseball.
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What exactly is the point of these (allegedly) “group twitter accounts?” I mean, unlike Netflix, where it behooves you to find someone else willing to share their login credentials, Twitter accounts are totally free.
This guy seems super slimy — and I’m just not talking about his politics. I’d respect him a lot more if he’d answer questions forthrightly and honestly.
I find this ambush journalism that Shay is pulling bulls!t get out the tar and feathers.
I know both of these people I cant say I agree with eithers hard line philosophy of life . But If I were running an event at he school these are two individuals you can count on to show up and work hard.
Each one of these guys would show up do what they say they were going to do and do it well and go above and beyond. in short the kind of folks you want in your community.
It is easy to create ad hominem attacks against a twitter account who cares twitter is a waste of time in my opinion.
We have tow differing opinions about government one believes in a self reliant way forward the other believes government is the answer to every prayer. The most I can hope for with both of these guys is they get together debate the issues and both concede points and lose a few debates to each other. We win in life when we are able to change our mind and defend that which is correct.
The liberal bent here in Burlington is to shout down opposition I find it extremely closed minded as closed minded as the tea party etc.. Lets discus the issues in a Socratic collegial environment. We may not agree but when the rubber meets the road and the hard work needs getting done we can do it together.
Shay is participating in the age old tradition of mudslinging god forbid any one is a tea party hump. I think I sent in the tea bagger joke to Rachel Maddow on her radio show then she took it viral. Im a bit guilty of inflammatory rhetoric myself . I think we shouldnt live in an echo chamber debate is healthy.
Is Bill Gates a self serving billionaire when he doles out a small amount of money to every school district for computers and sticks the community with the upkeep and larger bill ? is this worse than the Koch brothers expressing their point of view? I dont know but I will debate both sides of the issue. The Koch brothers employ 55 thousand a third who are union members all employees with family sized wages.
Bill gates has a large personal stake invested in the computer business he dumps and runs his computer initiative on schools. Not only is he a largest share holder he owns a large chunk of App;e stock as well. Gates profits each time he signs up a school for ongoing tech support software and hardware he personally profits from each and every transaction. is one better than the other?
Has our plan to redistribute wealth back fired? Walmart has arbitraged the profit form our social wealth redistribution plan they pay the definition of “working poor ” wages and keep the money that we sue to support their workers with SNAP cards, Subsidized housing , and health care cost shifting in a way that garners the six Walton family members 40% of our country’s wealth. Who is to blame for this wealth distribution arbitrage? The Waltons for exploiting the policy or the policy makers who have created a permanent underclass “working poor”and billions of dollars made available to Americas largest employers? Is this Capitalism, Socialism or Fascism when a company is allowed to in effect collect a tax that guarantees them a profit?
I think Shay and Scott should spend some time talking to each other while they man the grill a the next school function. Have a vigorous debate and share it here.
I know that they both have one thing in common they are both hard workers willing to show up and argue for what they believe in.
It is not McCarthyism to attempt to uncover what somebody actually believes in order to make an informed decision about whether to vote for them. McCarthyism would be if he were fired from his job, placed under government surveillance, and ostracized from the community because of those beliefs — that is what actually happened to many people on the left in the 1950’s, most of whom had no affiliation with the Soviet Union. So Mr. Shumski does the people that actually suffered under that system a disservice to equate his plight with theirs.
Also, I see from his Facebook account that he is a member of a group called “Americans for Ayn Rand,” so take that for it’s worth. He is running for state representative, so it is absolutely germane to the discussion to ask what his overarching political philosophy is and with which groups he affiliates.
I would say that the whole point of the article is simple” if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck It’s a duck”.There is definitely a problem with a public figure who makes one stand as a candidate and stands for the total opposite while hiding behind a ” joint twitter account” Be a man come out and say what you mean and mean what you say. Let the peoe choose knowing what you really stand for not a facade!
While I do not do “the twitter” I just love all the folks who get caught with their collective peckers hanging out by other folks who actually pay attention to the never ending stream if steaming comments. Some folks just can’t resist shooting off their yappers and then beat their breast and turn into deniers later. I think twitter would benefit the human race by not allowing deletions….Kudos to Seven Days for pointing out this pile of trash masquerading as a “man of the people”
who cares?
this is a school board race: being a communist, anarchist or fascist would have little guidance in the day to day affairs of a local school board.