Lenore Broughton, the force behind Vermonters First, has contributed a half million dollars to the conservative super PAC in the last campaign finance reporting period.
As of Monday, Broughton has given a grand total of $683,961 to Vermonters First since the PAC was launched this summer. Of that total, $534,621 has been spent on advertising ($200,000), robotic calls to prospective voters ($3,137) and mailings ($226,330). On Oct. 11, Broughton spent $17,500 on a public opinion poll.
Vermonters First has funded broadcast advertising campaigns to boost Republican candidates, including Sen. Vince Illuzzi, who is running for state auditor, and Rutland city Treasurer Wendy Wilton, who is in a tight race for the state treasurer’s office. These ads have focused on positive messages about the candidates.
Two recent ads, however, have been direct attacks on Democrats, namely Gov. Peter Shumlin’s decision to release a financing plan proposal for a single-payer health care system after the election and a discussion in the Legislature about lowering and broadening the state sales tax.
The health care ad drew the ire of a small group of single-payer health care protesters who marched from Burlington’s Old North End on Thursday to deliver a letter to Broughton, imploring her to stop her ad campaign because they said it would have “serious financial and health consequences for almost every Vermonter.”
Broughton is also the sixth largest political donor to national causes in the state.
Vermonters First has about $130,000 on hand.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Vermonters First spent $108,291 on robo-calls. The correct figure is $3,137.)
