Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Steve West, the host of “Live And Local” on WKVT-AM 1490 in Brattleboro. His views are his own and do not reflect the views of WKVT or its parent company. The podcast of his shows with Kate O’Connor and Tristan Toleno are at http://1490wkvt.com/Podcasts/2416488
Kate O’Connor and her opponent in Brattleboro’s District 3 Democratic primary, Tristan Toleno, spoke with me recently on “Live And Local” for a total of three hours. Listeners were afforded the opportunity to learn about the candidates and ask questions.
As a District 3 voter myself, it afforded me three up-close discussions from which I could draw my own conclusions. Having long been acquainted with Tristan, I made sure to tell the listeners in the weeks before that I was not without bias, but was very capable of being impartial and fair. That said, I invited Kate to persuade me, and everyone, as to why she was the better person to represent the district.
In preparing for the interviews, I was puzzled as to why Kate chose in 2006 to back a wealthy, conservative novice Republican for the U.S. Senate against arguably Vermont’s most popular politician of all time. Before I could ask, a caller challenged Kate to explain working for Rich Tarrant. In that moment, she chose to claim that she was merely educating Tarrant on the needs of Democrats, and suggested that she wasn’t working against Sanders.
First, Kate was told of my friendship with Tristan multiple times on and off the air. Secondly, we at WKVT don’t really have “official positions.” All of my “positions,” just like on my show, are mine and mine alone.
That hit my ear as absurd: that one would take a paid position with a campaign to elect a candidate, but not actually work toward a victory. I then asked Kate who she thought would have made the better senator. What I got back was “I worked for a Republican but I never lost my principles” and other generalities, but never an answer to the question.
It seemed implausible to me that a woman who touts her skills as a political player would assert that, although she was helping this Republican, she really wanted Bernie to win, or some such notion. She took this position not only on “Live And Local”, but also with Paul Heintz in Seven Days, as well as in her own letter published in the Reformer last week.
So I did a simple Internet search and easily found a number of quotations from Kate from 2006. Read a few for yourself and reconcile them with the idea of “only helping him understand the needs of Democrats”:
From the Brattleboro Reformer/Bennington Banner, Feb. 9, 2006
“It’s not the party that draws me to someone. It’s the person and what they believe in and their philosophy,” she said Wednesday. Even though many Democrats, including Dean, are backing Congressman Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., in the Senate race, O’Connor said she valued Tarrant’s attitude, along with his political agenda, which focuses on health care, jobs and the economy.
“It’s nothing against Bernie,” she said. “I was just really attracted to how (Tarrant) thinks we should run government.”
How about this one from the National Journal (Feb. 9, 2006)?
“Question: Why work for a Republican?
“I’m working for the person who I believe will best represent Vermonters in the Senate. I’ll always be a Democrat, but at the same time I think it’s important to put our country before party politics.” “
That doesn’t sound like helping Tarrant to understand the needs of Democrats. It sounds like an endorsement.
So when I wrote Kate about these obviously contradictory statements, she addressed only small pieces of it, and then decided to focus on me, CC’ing my boss at WKVT, Peter Case. What did she want to know?
From Kate’s letter:
“1. Is it the policy of WKVT to allow employees to invite community members onto its programs without telling them in advance about any conflicts of interest they should know about?
2. Is Steve’s charge that I’m “lying” the official position of WKVT? (If so, I ask for the name of the appropriate manager for me to contact at Saga Communications.)”
First, Kate was told of my friendship with Tristan multiple times on and off the air.
Secondly, we at WKVT don’t really have “official positions.” All of my “positions,” just like on my show, are mine and mine alone.
So instead of just owning the decision to help elect Rich Tarrant, Kate regards legitimate questions of her truthfulness as hostility, and goes after the questioner. Writing to my boss and to the parent company of WKVT is a far cry from addressing the simple truth that she has made contradictory public statements. The implication: asking tough questions (complete with cited sources) is met with contacting people at my workplace to ostensibly “control” me? That may work in a presidential campaign, but that’s not how it works in Vermont.
This is a real and salient issue, despite Kate’s protestations. In my view, Kate probably hoped no one would remember or care about Rich Tarrant. Well, since the district she seeks to represent went 15 percent Tarrant, 83 percent Sanders, I can see how awkward it would be to ask those 83 percent for their votes.
So I was left with the conundrum of knowing this information, but also being a friend of Tristan. Did that mean my inquiries were biased?
I’ll tell you where I’m biased. I love Brattleboro. I have been talking to it, with it, about it for six years on “Live And Local.” As listeners know, I have strong opinions, but pride myself on being fair and respectful to everyone. I cannot sit silently and watch as representation of Brattleboro could go to someone who, in my view, has not been fully candid about her judgment and her behavior. Having a familiar name and the backing of governors is certainly helpful in an election, but getting elected is a far cry from being a proxy voice for people in need of advocacy.
In this primary, the O’Connor name will mean a lot to some voters. But I challenge those who support Kate to mull over how she can hope to represent a district which rejected her judgment that a multi-millionaire with zero political experience would make a great U. S. senator. Even agreeing to disagree on that race, it still leaves the “I was only helping them understand Democrats” piece twisting in the wind.
I hope this also gets through to people who were not even planning to vote in this primary next Tuesday. If you are impacted by anything I’ve written, you’re needed at the polls. Otherwise, it is likely that a candidate with a familiar family name, questionable judgment and two versions of the truth will represent you in Montpelier for the next two years.
