“I have heard a sense of cynicism that I have not heard in Vermont in a long, long time,” Dunne said, describing his travels around the state. “And we need to take steps in order to address that cynicism and rebuild confidence.”
Dunne said he returned donations from 13 entities, including the online security outfit the Athena Group, a South Carolina law office, and political messaging firms in Boston and Washington, D.C.
He also returned money to a number of Vermont businesses, including $250 from a Norwich law firm.
While Dunne’s exact fundraising totals won’t be available until reports are filed with the secretary of state’s office March 15, it’s unlikely that the lost $16,050 will make a big dent. Over the summer, the candidate reported $134,558 in his war chest.
Dunne framed the decision as one influenced by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ impressive fundraising haul from mostly small donors, and he blasted the Citizens United Supreme Court decision in a Thursday fundraising email to supporters. That decision is blamed for opening the floodgates on campaign spending by individuals and corporations.
But Dunne acknowledged that while sending back corporate checks, he would still accept money from individuals employed by or running corporations. He also said he won’t turn away money from registered lobbyists, unions or political action committees.
“Taking a check from an individual Vermonter is a very different thing than taking it from a corporation,” he said.
Pointing to the 1907 Tillman Act, which prohibits direct corporate donations to national campaigns, Dunne said his pledge to match federal statute was “the easiest thing for Vermont to do.” He called on the other Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Sue Minter, to follow his lead.
“We are taking this step,” he said. “We are the only campaign to take this step, and feel this is a very important first step.”
Molly Ritner, Minter’s spokeswoman, said Dunne’s campaign went to the media with the pledge instead of directly contacting the campaign. Nick Charyk, Dunne’s campaign manager, said he spoke to the Minter campaign after the news conference in a brief phone call Thursday morning.
Ritner called Dunne’s proposed pledge “a stunt, something that politicians do.”
“While Sue has been working in public service for the last 15 years, Matt has been working for corporate America,” she continued, alluding to Dunne’s past work at Google.
She said Minter would follow Vermont’s campaign finance laws and not take the pledge. She added that the campaign would carefully inspect donations and reject money from Wall Street.
“But if a Vermont small business wants to support Sue because of her progressive agenda for the economy, we are honored to have that support,” Ritner said.
Dunne countered accusations that the pledge was all about politics, telling reporters: “There is nothing about returning checks in a real campaign that is a stunt. This is about making it clear that we are not accepting corporate contributions.”
Galbraith, who spoke after Dunne, applauded the candidate’s decision and reiterated a call for the Legislature to pass campaign finance reform this session.
Citing Gov. Peter Shumlin’s donations from green energy developers who were later awarded state contracts, Galbraith said he believed Shumlin’s passion on green energy was sincere but that the appearance of a conflict of interest was problematic.
“One of the important roles of a governor — for that matter a legislator — is not only to be impartial, but to appear to be impartial,” he said. Galbraith had represented Windham County as a Democrat.
His public appearance further fueled speculation that he is mounting a gubernatorial bid.
After the news conference, Galbraith flashed his potential platform to reporters: raising the minimum wage to $12, boosting public service funding, fighting for single-payer health care.
“Those are things that I have not seen in this campaign,” he said. “So there are things that I think absolutely must be part of the campaign.”
Unlike Dunne, Galbraith said he would take no money from unions or lobbyists as a candidate.
Galbraith all but said he would announce sometime this month. Asked hypothetically if he would run as a Progressive or a Democrat, Galbraith quickly responded, “Of course I’m going to run as a Democrat.”
