Now that Bruce Lisman, a retired Wall Street banker who was interested in running as a right-of-center independent, and Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, a moderate Republican from Stowe, have dropped out of the running, all eyes are turning toward two possibles: former state Sen. Randy Brock and Scott Milne, who runs a successful travel agency based in Barre and the Upper Valley.
Brock could not be immediately reached Thursday and Milne said he hasn’t decided whether to run.
But a candidate — or candidates — will likely announce next week, and Republicans interviewed for this story say there very well could be a primary bout between Milne and Brock. One person has already qualified to be on the Republican ballot, but Emily Peyton of Putney does not have the support of party officials. Candidates must file their petitions by June 12.
Republicans say a primary could create buzz and boost interest in the GOP’s message that Montpelier is “out of balance” and too dominated by Democrats who haven’t done enough to address the state’s economic woes, especially escalating property tax rates.
Milne, who was traveling in Morocco last week when word broke that he was mulling a run for governor on the GOP ticket, is a moderate. But the 55-year-old Pomfret resident has never served in office, though he ran and lost a bid for a House seat in 2006. In the 1990s, he ran for the Pomfret selectboard and lost. (The highlight of that election was a dog bite, Milne recalls. In self-deprecating fashion, he goes on to explain that former Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie beat him to a Boys State nomination, and there was that time he got “smoked” in a student council race.)
Suffice to say, Milne sees himself as an underdog in a primary or a general election scenario, but he says a primary, should he decide to run or if another candidate steps forward, “would greatly increase the path to victory” for any Republican.
Vermont politics has gone awry, in his view, and he believes the buzz a primary would generate is important for the state.
Milne says he has nothing “personally bad” to say about Shumlin.
“I think he’s a smart guy, and I would not be running to throw bombs,” Milne says. “The political culture in Vermont is headed in a bad direction, and Vermont’s economy is headed in a bad direction.”
Milne says he doesn’t understand how Shumlin, who came into office with a high approval rating and veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, can tout the 2014 legislative session as one of the best in history when neither his administration, nor the House and Senate, addressed the biggest issue for the state right now — the need for property tax reform.
“We’re going into another election cycle where the people running for re-election say ‘trust us we’ll take care of this next session,’” Milne said.
The fault he says lies with the Shumlin administration.
“The governor should have proposed a plan for the Legislature to work on,” Milne said. “It should have originated from the governor’s office, and the fact that it didn’t happen is an indication there is a lack of strong leadership there.”
Milne said if Shumlin and his administration were incapable of proposing a property tax reform plan this year that is an indictment of the governor’s leadership. If the governor decided it was a “smarter political strategy to delay” reforms to the property tax system, then that’s “an even worse indictment of his leadership.”
“Seems like it’s one of those two,” he said.
Milne says Shumlin is more interested in conducting polls and figuring out “which way the parade’s going,” than he is in deciding what’s best for the state.
“What we need is political leaders who want to figure out where we need to go and who will stick their neck out,” Milne says, adding that re-election prospects should not be a priority.
On the issue Shumlin has stuck his neck out on — universal health care — Milne says the governor has gone too far.
“On balance, there is way too much risk for the reward,” he said. “It’s great for someone who has national aspirations; I think it wasn’t clearly thought out.”
Shumlin should have figured out the funding system for universal health care by now, in Milne’s opinion, and the fact that he hasn’t is an indication that his administration either doesn’t have the capacity to figure it out or the delay is part of a tactical strategy that makes the policy harder to reverse. Either way, he says, “it’s an indictable question of his leadership.”
Milne sounded perennial Republican themes in a pre-announcement interview.
The state’s appetite for spending is outpacing the growth of the state’s economy, he maintains. Milne is concerned about state pension shortfalls, funding for health care, and attracting and retaining businesses.
“There’s a long list of things that can be better and a balanced government is much healthier than the one-sided one we have now,” Milne said.
The “easiest way” to bring the government back in political balance, he says, is for the state to elect a Republican governor.
Milne says if he runs he doesn’t plan to raise a lot of money. He said it’s a great privilege to live in a state with a small enough population and a low cost of entry “where it’s possible for someone like me” to run for governor.
Shumlin has $1 million in his personal warchest, and in his role of chair of the Democratic Governors Association, he is a leading fundraiser for party candidates nationwide.
