The four former Democratic primary candidates for governor held a press conference on Thursday to decry the tone of the governor’s race.
Secretary of State Deb Markowitz, Matt Dunne, Sen. Susan Bartlett and Sen. Doug Racine defended their former primary election rival, Sen. Peter Shumlin, and described Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie’s attack ads as attempts, in Racine’s word, to “assassinate” Shumlin’s character. They pointed to the release of a new television commercial from the Dubie campaign titled “Ethically challenged.”
Markowitz went so far as to call the personal assaults as “Machiavellian.”
Bartlett said Dubie is distorting Shumlin’s record and his policy initiatives and continues to “lie about what the truth is.” The state senator said she is disappointed by Dubie’s tactics, and she no longer
recognizes the lieutenant governor she worked with over a period of eight years. Dubie presided over the Vermont Senate; Shumlin is the President Pro Tem. The body consists of 30 members.
“I don’t know who this person is, but this is not Vermont, this is real outside Vermont, this is real nasty, and this isn’t OK,” Bartlett said.
Racine described Dubie as a “good guy” and as “a friend of mine.”
“Sometimes we disagree and that’s what politics should be all about, but that Brian Dubie has disappeared from Vermont, and what you see is a Brian Dubie most of us don’t recognize,” Racine said.
Racine said Dubie promised to stop the negative advertising two weeks ago, but his latest ad is a “compilation of the worst charges he’s been making against Peter Shumlin throughout this campaign.”
“It’s about character assassination,” Racine said. “We’ve seen this around the country, where candidates don’t have too much to say and don’t have too much to offer decide the best way they’re going to get elected is to denigrate their opponent. I think that’s sad for this campaign, and it’s sad for Vermont, and I think it’s kind of sad for Brian Dubie.”
Kate Duffy, communications director for Dubie’s campaign, was waiting in the hallway outside the Cedar Creek Room, where she cheerfully handed out folders filled with newspaper articles and documents that she said backs up the assertions made in the advertisement.
“The lieutenant governor believes character counts, and Vermonters should be able to trust who is in the governor’s office,” Duffy said.
The title of Dubie’s advertisement comes from a survey Seven Days conducted last spring of lawmakers and Statehouse lobbyists, in which Shumlin was given the most “ethically challenged” billing. About 4 percent of lawmakers responded to the survey. Duffy said Seven Days has defended the story, which has been criticized because of the small sampling of lawmakers in the poll.
The Dubie campaign has also posted a Web site listing “Peter Shumlin’s Top Twelve Ethical Lapses.”
Bartlett sees the use of the “ethically challenged” label as an underhanded GOP tactic. “It’s obvious that the Republicans’ approach to campaigning is to instill fear and to, even when corrected, to say this is the truth, this is the truth, this is the truth — whether it’s about Peter’s ideas about corrections that are actually ideas we’ve been working on in the Legislature for a number of years or whether it’s about a speeding ticket,” Bartlett said.
Markowitz said the five Democrats managed to run positive, issue-oriented campaigns. Vermonters responded overwhelmingly, she said, to that approach. Personal attacks are not the Vermont way, she said. “Vermonters expect campaigns to be positive, above board, honest and about the issues that matter,” Markowitz said.
When asked if she thought Shumlin’s Pinocchio ad, which distorted Dubie’s face, was negative, Markowitz said no. She said listing Dubie’s dishonest assertions is “fair game,” and she said Shumlin should put the ad back up on the air and cite more misrepresentations from the Dubie campaign.
Racine told reporters that Dubie started the attacks before the recount was over. In press releases, Racine said, the Dubie campaign misrepresented his own record.
“All three points he made about me were quite frankly lies,” Racine said. “They were beyond distortions, they were misstatements of my positions, and that tone has continued throughout his whole campaign.”
Each of the former contenders said Dubie is avoiding the real issues, and they took turns blasting his stances on abortion rights, health care, education and the budget.
Matt Dunne said Dubie’s plan to substantially reduce funding to local schools is “irresponsible.” Dunne said Vermonters have a right to know what Dubie will do to achieve “massive cuts” to schools.
Markowitz said Dubie has refused to say whether he will protect a woman’s right to choose. She said in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie also declared, as Dubie has, that Roe v. Wade is settled law in his campaign, and then when he was elected, he cut $8 million in funding for family planning and required an abstinence-only curriculum in the state’s schools.
Bartlett said about half of the initiatives that Dubie cites in his “Pure Vermont” plan are already under way, and the rest of the proposals don’t add up.
She held up a jar with a “Please donate sign” taped onto it as a symbol of what’s wrong with the state’s health care system. In 2009, 50 percent of Vermont households were contacted by collection agencies over health care bills, she said.
“We’ve all seen these cans all over the state, and you get asked to buy a lottery ticket or a benefit dinner to help some Vermont family pay the health care bills for someone in their family who has dared to do
something like get cancer and not have the right coverage … and now has hundreds of thousands of dollars in health care bills and no coverage,” Bartlett said.
That’s “not OK,” she said. The state needs to move toward comprehensive health care reform, she said. “Peter is the kind of guy who can get this done.”
Racine, in saying Dubie’s budget numbers don’t add up, said his plan to give tax breaks to wealthy Vermonters will lead to deficit spending.
“He did misspeak when he said he was going to target the most vulnerable Vermonters — I don’t believe he meant to say that,” Racine said. “But if you read his proposals, that’s exactly what he is doing, he is targeting the most vulnerable. In his effort to give a huge tax cut to the 1,400 wealthiest Vermonters, $250 million in tax cuts for those making $373,000 year, he is targeting the most vulnerable. He is saying he would have to increase taxes in the lowest bracket by $100 million to pay for those at the highest end. He is saying he would limit budget increases to 2 percent. I want to know how he would do it. I think it’s important to ask the question, how do you keep it at 2 percent? If he’s going to limit growth to 2 percent, something’s got to give.”
