The conservative super PAC Vermonters First has mailed out absentee ballot request forms to prospective voters in Vermont. But this act of civic altruism is wrapped in a letter bomb for Democrats.
The two-page missive from Tayt Brooks, the treasurer of Vermonters First, says Democrats own Montpelier. The “super-majority,” he says, controls the offices of the governor, treasurer, attorney general and secretary of state. (Republican Tom Salmon holds the state auditor’s seat.) Not to mention veto-proof majorities in the House of Representatives and the state Senate, Brooks says.
His main message? Democrats aren’t listening to average Vermonters. And not only are the lefties ignoring the will of the voters, in Brooks’ view, they are advancing an “agenda of more government control and higher taxes without regard for the devastating impact on working Vermonters.”
“The super-majority in Montpelier has a plan that involves a government take-over of your health care,” Brooks writes. “That’s right, Montpelier has selected five bureaucratic strangers to decide what coverage you and your family will receive and how you will receive it.” (The “five bureaucratic strangers” Brooks is referring to are the members of the Green Mountain Care Board, the quasi-judicial panel charged with reforming the health care system under the Shumlin administration.)
The ultimate result of government interference? Health care reform will lead to “the largest tax increase in Vermont history.”
In between shots of fearmongering, Brooks makes an appeal to Vermonters’ sense of civic duty. The letter encourages voters to support local candidates. (In Caledonia County, Republicans Joe Benning and David Dill for the Senate.)
Brooks urges voters to “return the enclosed absentee ballot request to your Town Clerk today so that together we can stand up to these job-killing, anti-freedom policies and get some commonsense back in Montpelier.”
This latest letter to voters is part of an ongoing campaign waged by Vermonters First. The super PAC has launched $70,000 worth of ads for Wendy Wilton, the Republican candidate for state treasurer, and Sen. Vince Illuzzi, who is running for state auditor on the GOP ticket. Last week Vermonters First sent out absentee ballot application stuffed letters for Wilton and hit the robocall rounds on her behalf.
Lenore Broughton, a prominent conservative political donor and founder of True North Reports, donated $100,000 to Vermonters First on Aug. 27, state records show.
Broughton also donated $34,000 worth of research and consultation for the group.
