No joke.
Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, will officially kick off his campaign for lieutenant governor next Thursday at the recently opened Vermont Comedy Club in Burlington.
“I don’t consider my campaign to be a joke, it’s a full-on campaign,” Zuckerman said Friday. “If people want to make puns, they are certainly welcome to. Campaigns could use more levity anyways.”
(No word on whether Zuckerman’s speech will answer the politically divisive questions of whether the chicken is organic and who pays for the road.)
Zuckerman said he chose the venue because it represents a new, exciting business in Chittenden County. He also said its location on Main Street would allow for supporters to stop by after work and show support.
“I have spent nearly 20 years working to bring Vermonters together to pass dynamic and important legislation that has improved lives,” Zuckerman told supporters earlier this week. He highlighted his support for marriage equality, climate change legislation and the nation’s first GMO labeling law.
Zuckerman is running against a cohort of young Democrats in the race for lieutenant governor — Burlington Rep. Kesha Ram, 29, and Brandon Riker, 28, of Marlboro, relatively unknown candidate who has never held elected office. Dr. Louis Meyers, an independent, is also running.
Former gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock is the only Republican to have announced a bid for the post.
Zuckerman said he hopes to run a publicly funded campaign, and he informed supporters Wednesday he needed 750 small contributions from Vermonters to qualify.
But the public financing law in the state requires candidates to wait until February before they start campaigning, and state officials say Zuckerman’s early entrance into the race likely disqualifies him from receiving the funds.
Last month, Zuckerman filed a motion of intervention with the U.S. District Court in Burlington claiming the current public financing laws were unconstitutional, and hobbled anyone who took the public route.
On Tuesday, in a blow to the Chittenden County senator, the Attorney General’s office opposed Zuckerman’s motion.
But John Franco, Zuckerman’s lawyer, argued in a legal memo that the opposition came one day too late, and was due no later than November 30, according to state rules.
Franco said Attorney General Bill Sorrell should stop pushing against Zuckerman’s challenge to the public financing law, which joins an existing court challenge filed by former Lt. Gov. candidate Dean Corren.
“Their interpretation is palpable nonsense,” said Franco, who is representing both Zuckerman and Corren. “I think we have exposed it for what it is.”
Franco argued “nothing requires a state to adopt a public financing system, but if it chooses to do so, it must adopt one with conditions which are constitutional.”
He added the current restrictions in the law “abridge, restrict, and censor speech rather than facilitate and enlarge it.”
Megan Shafritz, assistant attorney general for the civil division, disputed Franco’s assertion that the opposition memo was filed past the deadline. She said the fact that the courts were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday as well as the day after gave the state an extension to file.
The Attorney General argues in a memo that Zuckerman should not be able to challenge the motion, as no changes could be made to the law before the 2016 election.
The state also argued Zuckerman “seeks to present a brand new challenge to the constitutionality” of the law, and therefore he should bring a separate legal challenge from Corren’s.
Both parties are now waiting for a U.S. district court judge to rule on whether Zuckerman’s motion should be allowed.
The Chittenden County senator said he will run a privately funded campaign if the state decides he does not qualify for public funds.
“If they make a decision or it becomes too dragged out then I will go with a private campaign,” Zuckerman said. “I feel that with strong support across the state, there is plenty of time.”
