[C]OLCHESTER — Vermont Republicans are circling the wagons around Lt. Gov. Phil Scott’s bid for governor, with former state Sen. Randy Brock and a host of other current and former officials endorsing him Wednesday.
Brock is the lone Republican running to replace Scott as lieutenant governor.
“Vermont simply can’t afford two more years of a Shumlin-Smith administration, which is what our opponents promise to give us,” Brock said, referring to outgoing Gov. Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Shap Smith, one of three Democrats vying to face off with Brock in the general election.
Brock bemoaned what he described as six years of tax-and-spend policies of Democrats, saying, “Vermonters are taxed out, tapped out and ready for change in Montpelier.”
The primary battle between Scott and businessman Bruce Lisman has become increasingly heated and negative in recent days, with Lisman challenging the ethics of Scott’s construction business taking state contracts while he’s held office and portraying the lieutenant governor as an obsequious bystander to Democratic profligacy.
Scott dismissed those attacks again Wednesday as “deceitful” and out of step with Vermont political values. The number of negative ads Lisman has run during the primary has given him concern, Scott said, and made him want to ensure all his “bases were covered,” leading him to reach out to Brock for an endorsement.
Brock declined to comment on the tenor of the campaign, instead saying his endorsement of Scott is based on who he believes is best positioned to beat the Democratic nominee. But he said he’d have no problem supporting Lisman for governor if he wins Tuesday’s primary.
“Both these men are friends of mine, people I’ve known for a long time,” Brock said.
During the leadup to the 2014 election, VTDigger reported on divisions in the Republican Party over whether to align behind Brock — who had lost to Shumlin in 2012 — as the party’s consensus candidate to take him on again.
Scott reportedly encouraged Scott Milne to run for the Republican nomination, and Brock eventually decided against a bid that year. Milne, who is challenging Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was on hand Wednesday to observe the news conference.
Both Brock and Scott said no such divisions had ever existed.
“I don’t believe there was ever a rift. At least there wasn’t from my standpoint,” Scott said.
“I made the comment that I thought primaries were healthy. I still believe they’re healthy. Unfortunately, I don’t like the one I’m involved in now, but at the same time it makes you a better candidate,” he added.
Brock scoffed at what he called a myth that Republicans don’t talk with each other, saying he’d had extensive conversations with both Scott and Milne while he was mulling a 2014 bid.
“There is no hatchet to bury,” Brock said.
Despite the rancor in the current campaign, both Scott and Lisman said during a debate Wednesday on Vermont Public Radio that they were prepared to endorse whoever wins the primary.
