A radio ad paid for by TJ Donovan’s campaign for Vermont Attorney General raised questions about whether Gov. Peter Shumlin had endorsed the Chittenden County State’s Attorney over incumbent Bill Sorrell in the Democratic primary.
The ad, read by a female voice, quoted the governor as saying “I can tell you that TJ has been an extraordinary prosecutor for Vermont and has really been an extraordinary leader.”
Shumlin’s campaign manager Alex MacLean said the quote wasn’t an endorsement of Donovan’s candidacy.
“While the comments quoted are accurate, the governor has made equally positive comments about Sorrell, which [Sorrell] could also quote,” she said.
Sorrell’s campaign said the quote was taken out of context.
“I haven’t heard the ad myself but from what I heard, Gov. Shumlin said TJ Donovan was a great state’s attorney and then in the next breath he said Bill Sorrell is the greatest Attorney General Vermont has ever had,” said Mike Pieciak, Sorrell’s campaign manager.
The comments in question, Donovan said, were made at a press conference to announce an award Donovan received for his work implementing Rapid Intervention Community Court – a modified version of court diversion that allows low-level offenders to be referred to community services instead of the corrections system – in Chittenden County.
Sorrell said that when the advertisement began its run last week, the governor called him.
“The governor said to me that the Donovan campaign cut in half what he had actually said. They left in the good stuff about TJ Donovan and took out the good stuff about Bill Sorrell, and the governor called me the day the ad went up and said he wasn’t endorsing him,” Sorrell said in an interview.
The governor’s full quote, according to an audio recording of the press conference, was as follows:
“As you know, I’m staying out of any primaries among Democrats. I can tell you that TJ has been an extraordinary prosecutor for Vermont and has really been an extraordinary leaders, so we’re here today to celebrate this national award, celebrate the success of a program that’s reducing recidivism, but in terms of the primary, we’ll get involved in election politics as soon as the primary’s completed. I just might make the point — I don’t know, you’ve been to a few press conferences today, but I should point out that the current Attorney General has been at two of the press conferences today, so one of the joys of being governor is we have a lot of friends.”
Editor’s Note: Nat Rudarakanchana contributed to this report.
