It looks like the gloves are off in the primary campaign for state attorney general, after news broke of an alleged push poll conducted by TJ Donovan’s campaign.
Incumbent Bill Sorrell’s campaign today replied with an open email to Donovan, requesting the release of the poll questions, “in the interests of transparency.”
Donovan campaign manager Ryan Emerson refused to release the polling questions to the general public or to Sorrell’s campaign, calling the poll contents “proprietary information.”
“[The poll] informs our decisions going forward, on how we frame our messages and how we talk to Vermonters,” said Emerson. “We paid for this information. It’s ours. If the question is whether it’s a push poll or a scientific poll, it’s a scientific poll,” said Emerson firmly.
Sorrell’s campaign manager Michael Pieczak said they wanted to see for themselves if the questions were scientific and data-driven. “The bigger issue is whether or not the questions asked in polling intended to push away from Bill and toward TJ,” said Pieczak. “That’s why I think we have the right to know.”
Emerson said that he would allow reporters to inspect the actual poll questions at the campaign’s Burlington office on Friday afternoon, but clarified that neither the general public nor Sorrell’s campaign could attend, and that no physical or digital copies of the questions could leave the office.
“Members of the media cannot report what the questions are, but may report on the nature of the questions,” said Emerson. He called the interest in the poll a “distraction” from “Mr. Sorrell’s record and lack of a record.”
Emerson also pointed out that Neil Marinello, the named critic and polltaker in Paul Heintz’s Seven Days story, is the father of an assistant attorney general, Kyle Marinello-Landis, employed in Sorrell’s office.
Marinello, a retired psychologist with a doctorate in clinical psychology, said he thought his son’s job and his own support for the Sorrell campaign was irrelevant to the poll drama, and said he hadn’t volunteered for Sorrell’s campaign, though he may have donated money to Sorrell in the past. (State records show neither Marinello or his son donated this year.)
Marinello, who has taken a course in how to construct questionnaires, blasted the poll as biased, though the questions he said didn’t contain false statements.
Meanwhile, Pieczak believed that one purported question, which asked if the respondent would vote for a candidate who had been in a drunken fist fight, left it ambiguous whether the candidate in question was Sorrell or Donovan. Marinello remembered hearing the question and agreed with Pieczak’s point that it did not name either candidate. (Donovan was in such a brawl as a teenager.)
Other campaign developments
Alongside requesting the release of the polling script, Sorrell’s email earlier today asked Donovan to sign a campaign pledge to refrain from negative campaigning in the coming weeks before the Aug. 28 primary. The “positive campaign pledge,” which Sorrell is urging Donovan to sign can be seen here.
Emerson called the campaign pledge “wonderful” and said that Donovan intends to sign the pledge, reiterating: “We’ve run a clean campaign, an issues-based campaign.”
But Emerson hoped that in return, Sorrell’s campaign could respond to yet another public campaign salvo fired off this morning, in which Donovan’s campaign requested three more debates in addition to the six scheduled within the next 26 days.
Pieczak said no venues, dates or sponsors for the three debates had been identified.
“If the insinuation is we don’t have enough debates, we reject that insinuation,” responded Pieczak. “We’re open to debates. It’s going to be a scheduling issue as it always is.” The Sorrell campaign can’t yet confirm participation in more debates.
Yesterday, the Donovan campaign also announced that Donovan had won the endorsement of former attorney general Progressive Party candidate Charlotte Dennett. Emerson said the endorsement was important because Dennett has been a leader in reforming Vermont’s criminal justice system, but couldn’t say for sure whether other Progressives would endorse Donovan in the future.
As for how quickly and in what way the primary contest is escalating, the difference between what the two campaign managers say is telling. “We don’t apologize for running a scientific poll, we don’t apologize for better informing ourselves. We don’t apologize for running an effective campaign,” said Emerson in rapid-fire fashion.
“Gloves off?” asked Pieczak quizically. “I think to the contrary we’re asking for a positive campaign. We’re saying strap the gloves back on.”
