The largest buy came from Reid Hoffman, a Silicon Valley billionaire and co-founder of LinkedIn and PayPal, who sunk $220,000 into television, radio and online ads on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Dunne, according to a report filed Wednesday with the secretary of state’s office.
Secretary of State Jim Condos said Hoffman’s outside expenditures were perfectly legal, assuming there was no coordination between the tech mogul and Dunne’s campaign.
In a statement, Dunne said the huge media buy “was a surprise to us just like everyone else.” He described Hoffman as a close friend who spent part of his youth in Vermont, adding that “he’s getting involved in the most transparent way possible, by putting his name on it.”
Hoffman did not return multiple phone and email requests for comment.
Former Transportation Secretary Sue Minter, another Democrat in the race, is receiving her own share of outside media spending, with $120,000 spent on her behalf by Vermonters for Strong Leadership, a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee. The PAC’s president, Bob Sherman, co-founded the Montpelier lobbying outfit KSE Partners before retiring in 2014.
According to media contracts filed with the Federal Election Commission this week, the Minter PAC received financial support from Emily’s List, a political organization aimed at electing female Democrats to office. The organization endorsed Minter in February.
Sherman said that besides himself and Emily’s List, four or five other Vermonters had put up money to support Minter, but did not give their names. He said up to $200,000 could be directed toward media buys from the PAC in the runup to primary day, which is Tuesday.
“I think these are the rules that we live by, every candidate has the opportunity to do this until the rules change,” Sherman said. “Applauding or lamenting the rules is not important, really. These are the rules, and we are playing by the rules.”
Much of the Democratic primary campaign has been about shunning corporate money, and both Dunne and Minter voluntarily returned their corporate campaign contributions in March.
Former Windham County Sen. Peter Galbraith, the third Democrat in the race, has not accepted corporate cash in his bid, instead largely self-funding his run to the tune of roughly $200,000. His most recent mass media report shows $2,185 spent on newspaper advertisements.
“I never imagined that I would be the poor man in the race,” Galbraith said Thursday, calling his two competitors hypocritical and insincere for shunning corporate money but not disavowing outside spending on their behalf.
He asserted that Hoffman’s spending “does not pass the smell test” that it was done independently of the Dunne campaign.
“It’s comic to describe this an independent expenditure,” Galbraith said. “It is a desperate tactic that is absolutely skirting the limits of the law.”
On the Republican side, the American Future Fund put up $27,000 in television and radio ad spending on behalf of gubernatorial candidate Bruce Lisman. The two names behind the money are Warren Spector and Robert Steinberg, two former colleagues of Lisman at the Wall Street firm Bear Stearns.
The American Future Fund, an Iowa-based group supports conservative free-market candidates, has ties to Republican mega-donors Charles and David Koch.
A representative from the Lisman campaign did not immediately return a call seeking comment, but Brittney Wilson, Scott’s campaign manager, derided the ad spending.
“The deceitful D.C. ads trying to tear Phil down to make Bruce look better are another indication of desperation,” she said in a statement. “I think Vermonters know better. They know Phil Scott and they know he’s the candidate who will focus on the economy, make Vermont more affordable and oppose higher taxes and fees.”
Past primary elections for statewide candidates have seen thousands of outside dollars rush into the state, from candidates in both parties. In 2012, for example, the Committee for Justice and Fairness Political Action Committee, an arm of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, spent $145,000 on broadcast advertising to support Bill Sorrell’s primary fight against TJ Donovan.
Still, the secretary of state said this year’s primary spending seems unprecedented.
“I think, personally, it changes the political landscape in Vermont,” Condos said. “There are First amendment rights of free speech, and courts have ruled that money is no object here, unfortunately. But I think the cost of elections in Vermont just went up significantly, not just for statewide races.”