Scott Milne, the Republican candidate for governor, has loaned himself $25,000 and raised just over $10,000 over the past two weeks in campaign finance contributions. But it won’t be enough to begin to take the edge off a general election race in which the incumbent Democrat, Gov. Peter Shumlin, has a lopsided advantage.
Most of the money Milne received in donations came from family, family businesses and personal connections, including Nancy, Jonathon, Don and George Milne, Milne Travel and B&M Realty.
Milne is a relative political unknown. While the North Pomfret travel agency executive has been attending local events and meeting publishers at community newspapers, his spending on TV ads, which would introduce him to a wider audience, has been nominal so far.
At this juncture, he has roughly $17,000 on hand.
Meanwhile, Shumlin took in about $32,000 since Aug. 18, the last campaign finance reporting deadline, and has $1.16 million in cash on hand. He received $2,000 donations from Democratic boosters, including Eugene Stetson ($2,000), Lisa Steele ($2,000), Christine Stiller and Robert Stiller (Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, $2,000 each) and Heather Wishik ($2,000). Several large corporations also gave Shumlin more than $1,000, including Walgreens and Verizon.
Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, the Republican incumbent, garnered nearly $50,000 in new money from contributors in the past two weeks, and he’s putting it to use. Scott just purchased $50,000 worth of media consulting and production services from Hen House Media, a media production company based in South Burlington. Scott has about $70,000 cash on hand.
Aside from a few political donations, including a $6,000 gift from the Republican State Leadership Committee, Scott’s contribution rundown reads like a who’s who of local business interests.
A few of the key individual contributors include: Thom (mayor of Barre) and Karen Lauzon ($2,000 and $1,000 respectively); Bruce Lisman, founder of Campaign for Vermont ($1,000); Joe Choquette, lobbyist for Downs Rachlin Martin ($250); John Hollar, mayor of Montpelier and lobbyist for Downs Rachlin Martin ($250); Peter Bourne, owner of Bourne’s Energy ($1,000); George Milne ($1,000); Brady Toensing, vice chair of Vermont GOP ($150); Rep. Heidi Scheuermann ($600); Skip Farrell ($500); and Scott Mackey of KSE Partners ($200).
Scott’s company, Dubois Construction, does business with the state. His large donor list includes a number of construction firms: Manosh Corp., Breadloaf Construction, Green Mountain Paving and Sealcoating, E.F. Wall, Miles Supply, Kingsbury Companies, New England Air Systems, Connor Contracting and Troy Minerals.
Other businesses that supported Scott in this round of reporting include: Coca-Cola, the Vermont Fuel Dealers Association, and Bourne’s Energy.
Scott’s opponent, Dean Corren, a Progressive from Burlington who just garnered support from Democrats in the primary, qualified for up to $200,000 in public financing for his campaign.
