Editor’s note: Comments from James Ehlers have been added to this story.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Ehlers, who has styled himself as a champion of labor interests, posted a series of tweets in 2010 indicating this may not always have been the case.
In the tweets, Ehlers shared scathing comments about the NEA, a union which represents 12,000 teachers and other educators in Vermont, and he made a slighting reference to nurses’ salaries.
“NEA should stop protecting deadbeats,” he wrote in a reply to a user who tweeted about underpaid teachers. “$40K for small class, no violence, long vacations, Cadillac healthcare… pretty good gig. It’s vocation. That is why many do it.”
“Good teachers should have ability 2 earn more, but will never happen if union system protecting deadbeats stays in place,” Ehlers wrote in another tweet.
When a third user wrote that nurses are comparably underpaid, Ehlers responded, “For nurses? I am sorry, guys. Not sure where you are getting your info.”
Sarah Anders, Ehlers’ communications director said she could not “confirm the context or reasons” for the tweets.
After failing to respond to requests for comment on the tweets Monday night, in an emailed statement Tuesday afternoon, Ehlers said that his progressive values “have never, and will never change.”
What has changed over the years, he said, are the “tactics” with which he approaches political discussions.
“I used to provoke discussion by playing devil’s advocate or use brash or challenging language,” he wrote. “It worked—I learned a lot about myself, others and our world, and I won on a number of issues.”
Since announcing his candidacy in May, unions have rallied behind Ehlers, a longtime environmental activist who has pledged to prioritize their interests if he unseats Gov. Phil Scott in the fall.
Two unions, the Vermont Building & Construction Trades Council and the Vermont AFL-CIO—which represents a host of unions—have formally endorsed the candidate.
In comments he made at a press conference on Monday, Ehlers suggested his positions on teacher unions and working conditions for nurses have changed substantially since 2010.
He said that governors throughout the country, including Scott, are waging a “systematic war on unions” and promised that if elected, he would lead a “labor friendly” administration.
“I will stand with these workers of Vermont to bring about a new day, one where we will stop at nothing to gain economic justice for every last Vermonter,” he said.
Standing on the Statehouse steps, flanked by union members, Ehlers derided Scott’s labor policy and said he had stood by the NEA and the VSEA, a union that represents state employees, when they faced opposition from the governor.
“In his short time as governor he has taken every chance to target public sector unions,” Ehlers said. “Whether it’s targeting teacher healthcare and threatening to cut school staff or a VSEA contract that raises the cost of healthcare and blocks access to necessary prescriptions.”
He also said that he has supported the UVM Medical Center nurses in their fight for better pay and staffing conditions.
On Monday, the nurses issued a ten-day strike notice. Absent an agreement with UVM, they will begin a two-day walkout on July 12. Ehlers called it an “embarrassment” that Vermont has some of the lowest paid nurses in the country, when taking cost of living into account.
Union representatives, who also took aim at Scott, offered resounding support for Ehlers.
“It’s imperative that all working Vermonters rally around the boots on the ground, blue collar workers’ advocate we have in James Ehlers. A vote for James is a vote for labor,” said Tim LaBombard, the President of the Vermont Building and Construction Trades Council.
Traven Leyshon, the president of the Green Mountain Labor Council said that long before Ehlers ran for governor, he’s rallied behind working Vermonters.
“Every picket line that I’ve seen for years, he’s been there, long before there was a campaign,” he said. “So he’s not a Johnny-Come-Lately, when it comes to looking for support of working people: his heart is there and his feet have been there.
This is the second time Ehlers’ seemingly contradictory and changing political views have come to light, preserved on social media.
Last month, Ehlers apologized for Facebook posts appearing to contradict his pro-choice views.
In March of 2015, for example, he shared an article on his personal Facebook page about Colorado lawmakers rejecting a bill that would have protected babies born alive after failed abortions “Pray for these legislators and their victims,” he wrote in the post.
Ehlers publicly apologized for the posts after VTDigger published a story on them last week.
In a statement, he pointed out that the posts do not state that he is opposed to a women’s right to choose. Rather, Ehlers said, he was raising “specific questions on conventional thinking.”
“As a thinker and social commentator, I recognized the complexity in these issues; as a public servant, I have made my positions known and, while keeping an open door to everyone, I will stand by them,” he wrote.
