With the March 6 election fast approaching, the leading candidates for mayor of Burlington are stepping up the attacks — and it’s all about the Benjamins.
Republican Kurt Wright criticized Democrat Miro Weinberger last week for jetting to Washington, D.C., for a fundraiser that netted $8000. Wright’s campaign spokesman said Weinberger was bringing outside money and “Washington politics” to a local race that should be all about Burlington, and pledged that Wright will not accept any contributions from out-of-state donors.
But it turns out that Wright, a city councilor who also represents Burlington’s New North End in the Vermont House, has taken outside money in the past — and now he’s on the defensive trying to explain the difference.
According to public campaign reports, Wright raised $850 from four out-of-state corporate political action committees for his 2010 campaign for state representative. He accepted $200 each from Pfizer PAC in New York City; Anheuser-Busch Co. PAC in Whitehouse Station, N.J.; and ENPAC (the corporate PAC for Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Corp.) in Jackson, Miss. He also accepted $250 from GlaxoSmith Kline PAC in Phoenix, Ariz.
The Weinberger campaign, which described its D.C. fundraiser as a gathering of Vermont “ex-pats” and family friends, dug up the same information and is now accusing Wright of hypocrisy.
“Just this week, Kurt Wright boasted of his campaign pledge not to take money from out of state or from political action committees,” said Mike Kanarick, a Weinberger campaign spokesman. “Yet, just a little more than one year ago, Wright accepted multiple out-of-state and PAC contributions. The hypocrisy is staggering and offers yet another example of Kurt Wright saying one thing in Burlington and doing the opposite when he thinks no one is watching.”
While $850 isn’t a lot of money, the Weinberger camp points out that Wright only raised $4374 for his 2010 statehouse campaign — and $1319 of that was a holdover from his 2008 campaign. That year, Wright finished first out of three candidates running for the two-seat district.
Reached by phone on Friday, Wright said there’s a difference between raising outside money for a mayoral campaign and for a state rep race.
“We’re having a race to lead the city of Burlington, as opposed to representing a small district in Montpelier,” Wright said. “The race for mayor should not be controlled by out-of-state interests.”
But it’s OK to have state legislators controlled by them?
“I think most legislators take money from those groups,” Wright replied. “The state rep race, when you look at the money I raised, it’s a tiny amount of money. It’s a few thousand dollars. Here we’re talking about Miro raising and spending, I don’t know, $80,000. I’m going to be spending $40,000 to $50,000. I think it’s different than spending $3000 or $5000 in a race, where it’s a tiny little race where you’re going into neighborhoods and putting up signs and stuff, as opposed to a big race like this. You have much more influence in a race like this.”
Wright said the main difference is that he didn’t solicit those out-of-state checks, whereas Weinberger went to D.C. looking for money.
“I didn’t ask for it and it had no influence on me whatsoever in any votes that I cast,” Wright said. “I mean, anyone who has given me money, I’ve cast votes that haven’t been the way they wanted sometimes. So I didn’t solicit any money from out of state. Never asked for it.”
Photo by Andy Bromage; Kurt Wright left, Miro Weinberger right.
This article appears in Feb 1-7, 2012.
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Blah, blah, blah. Neither of these men is good for Burlington.
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds? Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! [a croupier hands Renault a pile of money] Croupier: Your winnings, sir. Captain Renault: [sotto voce] Oh, thank you very much. [aloud] Captain Renault: Everybody out at once!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00…
Now that you mention it, I think I heard about a third candidate somewhere. A woman maybe?
I think another big difference is that Miro received donations with people with close connections to Vermont — people who’ve been born or lived here, worked for or still work for our members of Congress, etc. Individuals, not corporate PACs. Yeah, that part is a big difference, Kurt. But not in your favor!
@ vtcraghead:
@lassy2:disqus
“As with IRV, Kurt changes the rules when they don’t suit him.”
Mr. Head, it wasn’t Kurt Wright who changed the rules about IRV, it was the voters of Burlington. By a larger majority than that by which they adopted IRV in the first place. And by the way, it was the Progs who changed the rules by pushing for IRV so they could stay in power. And they gave us Kiss — the best argument against IRV there ever was.
Let’s focus on the issues instead of the petty distracting stuff. There is a huge difference between a PAC sending what amounts to small change and actually leaving the state to got ask for money. None the less, Miro’s heart is in the right place, Yale and Harvard educated a bright man. However what we need is someone with city council experience, personal knowledge of the workings of Montpelier. Kurt Wright has the ability to be an outstanding Mayor on day one. With more experience, Miro will one day be a very good leader but he needs more understanding and experience.
You’ll be surprised how the election turns out. Wanda Hines reflects the values of voters in Burlington. The other two do not.
That’s just stupid, come on Miro…. childish “I know I took outside money but so are you.” And for christ’s sake, their is a huge difference between cashing a check someone sends you FOR STATE GOVERNMENT and going outside the state begging for cash a CITY OFFICE.
Good grief, I’d be asking for my money back from Harvard. It’s high time logic and critical thinking become a required class in high school.
both these guys seem like weak candidates right now. which one of them is going to step out on a limb start this race up? It’s a snoozer right now.
My point was, from this article, you’d never know there was a third candidate. I would have liked to know what she thought about this, but alas.
I was not slamming Wanda Hines.
Unfortunately, Kurt was the one who decided to make an issue of this. He could have kept talking issues, but decided to play gotcha politics instead.
This speaks to Kurt’s character, which has taken a hit in my view
Kurt, no amount of money is going to make you a desirable candidate for Mayor of Burlington or anything else. Have your campaign manager look up the word “hypocrite” for you. Then fire him because you are both fools for going down that road!
“Kurt, no amount of money is going to make you a desirable candidate for Mayor of Burlington”
Actually, Kurt won the last election for Mayor…doesn’t that kind of make him desirable?