[G]ubernatorial candidate Christine Hallquist announced Monday she will return approximately $16,000 she has taken from businesses since launching her campaign in March, following criticism from fellow Democrats and political opponents for accepting corporate money.
“After watching Phil Scott take large sums from Monsanto and other out-of-state corporations, it has become clear that my leading on the issue of campaign finance is more important than ever,” Hallquist said in a statement Monday. “I can now proudly says no corporate money will be associated with my campaign.”
Last month, Hallquist said she would no longer be accepting corporate cash, but defended her decision to keep the $16,000 in donations that had already filled her campaign’s coffers.
Hallquist said in July she was relying on the money to pay her unionized campaign staff and said she had personal connections to individuals at all of the companies that had contributed to her election bid.
“This isn’t Monsanto,” she said in July, defending her decision to keep the money. “These are Vermont companies. … I know them personally. I know their character. I know exactly who they are.”
Her campaign manager, Cameron Russell, said her announcement Monday to give back the money wasn’t a political about-face, but a move that the campaign could only make once it had a plan to make up for the lost donations.
“Not really a change of heart, just that we couldn’t afford to do it right away,” he said.
The corporate donations Hallquist accepted came from the real estate firm Barrett Singer, the animal food manufacturer Green Mountain Animal and Vermont Telephone Co.
Russell said some of the business owners have agreed take back their corporate donations and make donations to her campaign personally, or through family members. But that wasn’t the case across the board, he said.
“There was one hang-up where we have one business owner that doesn’t want to donate personally, which I think may be evidence why this is an important issue,” Russell said. He declined to identify the owner.
He noted that to make up the difference of the returned donations, Hallquist may also have to lend money to the campaign herself.
Hallquist is in a four-way race for the Democratic nomination. The primary is Aug. 14.
“My campaign is returning these monies because it is the right thing to do,” Hallquist said in her statement. “My taking corporate money, no matter the source, muddied the waters and it is critical that no one question my commitment to clean and fair elections.”
Hallquist has pledged to support campaign finance reform, if elected, including legislation to ban corporate campaign donations altogether.
