Editor’s note: Jon Margolis is VTDigger.org’s political columnist.
Yes, this is an election year, and, yes, that includes a campaign for governor of Vermont, and with eight months to go, the candidates for that office are …
Well, where are they?
The Democrat, incumbent Peter Shumlin, refuses even to declare that he is running for re-election, though of course he is.
The Republican, Sen. Randy Brock of St. Albans, acknowledges that he is running. But so far he has no campaign organization. No campaign manager. No pollster. No spokesperson.
“I have no hired staff,” he said in a brief interview in the Statehouse Thursday.
But Brock said he is dealing with a few consultants, including Darcie Johnston, a fund-raising consultant based in Montpelier. Brock said he has also been in touch with Bob Wickers, a respected Republican pollster who worked for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign in 2008.
Johnston is also the former head of Vermonters for Health Care Freedom, which is leading the fight against Shumlin’s health care proposals. The connection indicates that Brock will make his opposition to Shumlin’s health care plan a major issue in campaign.
“I don’t have to make health care a big issue,” he said. “Health care is a big issue, and I want to articulate the fact that there are alternatives” to Shumlin’s approach.
Brock said he will not argue that the present health care system is acceptable.
“My position is not simply to say no,” he said. “But there are a number of alternatives that don’t involve, let’s see, how shall I say this, the more excessive elements of the (Shumlin) plan.
Brock said his campaign would also differ with Shumlin policies on energy, education, and “the size and cost of government.”
As to when he might put together a campaign organization, Brock declined to name a date, but said he was “finalizing” his plans and that his campaign was “operating on schedule.” One reason he was in no hurry, he said, was that he had been “hired to do a job” as senator, and “I take that reasonably seriously.”
Even without acknowledging his candidacy, Shumlin already has a campaign structure, some of it left over from his successful run in 2010. From all indications, he is set for another successful run this year. In fact, the longer he puts off a formal announcement, the better for him. This way, he stands before the electorate more as the governor of everyone, less as the candidate of his party.
Politically sure-footed though he is, Shumlin may have made his first political error this week when he seemed to dismiss a report detailing poor conditions, including worms or maggots in the shower stalls, at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, the state’s prison for women.
He didn’t dismiss the repulsiveness of maggots in the shower stalls. He just claimed that some of the report was “inaccurate.” But neither did he regret the presence of maggots in the shower stalls. One news organization, Channel 44, called the governor’s response as “shocking” as the report itself.
But Shumlin may have had a point, even if he did risk seeming callous. The women who wrote the report acknowledged that some of the problems they highlighted had been dealt with and work was under way to repair some of the other shortcomings.
If it was a political error, it was noteworthy for being the first of Shumlin’s 14-month term. Some of his positions and statements have miffed many legislators, including members of his own party. But when he gets behind a podium, he usually displays unerring political instinct.
And as errors go, this one is likely to risk limited political damage. Concern for the well-being of convicts is not universal.
