In the only one-on-one U.S. Senate debate of Vermont’s election season, incumbent Democrat Patrick Leahy and Republican Scott Milne engaged in a verbal tussle Wednesday over whether political experience is an asset or a liability.
Leahy — who has served in the Senate for 42 years and is seeking another six-year term — demonstrated his institutional knowledge while catching Milne out on a series of issues during the Vermont Public Radio debate.
Though Milne has said he would be interested in serving on the Foreign Relations Committee if elected, the Pomfret businessman could not name three current foreign leaders he admired. His one specific example was Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“I think Merkel is good. I think it’s interesting to study what’s happening with Merkel in Germany right now,” Milne said. “Obviously, you know, the new leaders in Great Britain have got a lot of problems going on with Brexit. It will be interesting to see what’s going to happen with them.”
Milne added that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “clearly not somebody to admire.” Milne then asserted that he had the right temperament to deal with the Russian leader.
Leahy said he admired Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Pope Francis and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his work toward ending the country’s civil war.
(Leahy was involved in bringing Colombia and guerrilla groups together in Cuba for the peace negotiations. Santos invited Leahy to the country for the signing of the peace agreement, but Leahy could not attend.)
On the topic of domestic gun regulations, Milne said he opposed any new federal regulations but added that he would act as a moderate voice of compromise on any proposed changes.
“I don’t know whether he’s in favor of a background check that applies to everybody, including people who might be on a no-fly list or have criminal warrants pending against them,” Leahy said. “Or how he might feel about, say, a magazine that could carry 40 or 50 rounds.”
“Sen. Leahy’s been there for 42 years, and he hasn’t done anything to fix those problems,” Milne retorted. “I think I’ll be much better at it than him.” Leahy has supported a number of gun bills, including the 1994 ban on assault-style weapons, which has expired.
After VPR’s Peter Hirschfeld pointed to a lack of experience in political office on the part of the Republican, a co-owner of Milne Travel, Milne asserted that the Senate was founded as a body for everyday people.
“Our Founding Fathers designed our United States Senate to be for people like Scott Milne, farmers, teachers — maybe a travel agent here and there — that step up, serve their nation as a public servant and come back and live under the laws that they’ve made,” he said.
Campaign finance was the arena where Milne landed some blows.
He hit Leahy over the recent revelation that he accepted $5,000 in 2003 through a Massachusetts law firm’s legally dubious system in which donations from employees were offset by bonus payments.
“I’m sitting across from a man who got $5,000 in dirty money from a law firm in Boston and won’t return it, even though Hillary Clinton and Peter Welch and everybody else is returning the money,” Milne said sharply.
Turning to the millions in political donations Leahy has received since his last election, Milne then asserted that Vermont’s senior senator “loves money” and frequently holds fundraisers with lobbyists where he will “charge people $5,000 apiece to sit around and have a glass of water or cocktail or something with him.”
Although Leahy took in more than $500,000 from political action committees before the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, he said the court decision has forced him to raise millions in order to deflect the potential attacks from outside PAC money.
“I’m not going to unilaterally disarm,” Leahy said.
Hirschfeld pointed out that other candidates from Vermont — including Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Sue Minter and Sen. Bernie Sanders — have rejected corporate money this election season.
Last week, Milne rolled out his only plan of the campaign so far, a set of steps meant to restrict undue influence in national politics by reforming the funding process for elections and imposing congressional term limits. He told reporters that his term limit bill would be called the Leahy Act to Prevent Career Politics.
Leahy countered Milne’s attacks by pointing to his past support for campaign finance reform, including his role as co-sponsor on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, a moderate overhaul of money directed to political parties that went into effect in 2002.
More recently, Leahy co-sponsored the Disclose Act, which would mandate more transparency over so-called dark-money spending in politics. The bill has repeatedly been blocked by Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and has attracted no Republican co-sponsors.
After a hard press by Leahy, Milne acknowledged he would support McConnell as majority leader, a position Leahy said undermines Milne’s focus on campaign finance reform.
At the end of the hourlong debate, Milne also criticized Leahy for his unwillingness to engage in more than three televised debates for a six-year term.
“In Vermont we have a two-year governor’s term and they’ve had 15 forums and debates,” Milne said. “So thanks for really stepping up and giving Vermonters a chance to understand what the differences are between the two of us.”
