One of Vermont’s most influential lobbying organizations will now have a political action committee aimed at putting more “pro-climate” candidates in office.
The Vermont Public Interest Research Group, which has advocated in the past for stricter reporting requirements for super PACs, announced Saturday in a video to members that it is forming a PAC called VPIRG Votes to serve as the nonprofit’s “political campaign arm.”
Vermont’s greenhouse gas pollution went down slightly in 2016 for the first time in five years, per the latest available data put out earlier this month by the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
While Vermont is supposed to have reduced emissions 25% below 1990 levels by 2012, emissions are 13% higher than that target.
As a 501(c)4 VPIRG can already endorse candidates. When the organization was formed in the 1970s the board focused on lobbying for issues instead, Burns said. A year and a half ago, board members started reconsidering that stance, ultimately settling on forming a PAC to recruit and canvass for candidates.
“It really was, I think, driven to a large degree by the climate crisis and the sense that we can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines when the critical decisions about whether the state will move forward to address this problem” will be made on Election Day, Burns said Tuesday.
The PAC would train and recruit potential candidates, with the first round of endorsements expected to come out this summer. Building off VPIRG’s well-known summer canvassing for issues and donations, the PAC would go door to door in the fall to canvass for candidates and encourage people to vote, said Burns.
When asked whether VPIRG Votes would donate to specific candidates or pay for ads this election cycle, Burns said that has not yet been decided. The PAC will have a board of advisers who will help make those kinds of decisions, he added.
Gov. Phil Scott has come under fire from environmental organizations, including VPIRG, for not taking bolder action to address climate change. Burns said it was too early to say who the PAC would be endorsing for governor.
“I think the governor’s race is certainly a critical one in Vermont, when you’re talking about whether the state will make meaningful progress on addressing the climate crisis,” he added. “So I think it’s fair to say we’d be taking a close look at that race and how it shapes up.”
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman and Rebecca Holcombe are seeking the Democratic nomination in the governor’s race. Both have been outspoken on climate issues.
Rep. Heidi Scheuermann, R-Stowe, said in an interview Tuesday that she feels VPIRG has become a “hyper partisan” organization.
“So I guess I’m glad that they’re finally pulling the trigger on making a legitimate political action organization,” she said.
She added that she hopes they will be “transparent” about where the funding for the PAC comes from.
The VPIRG PAC will not take funding from corporations and plans to draw on existing members and donors for funding, said Burns. He stressed that VPIRG Votes will be a “regular state PAC,” which is limited to individual donations of $4,080 in a two-year election cycle, and not a super PAC. He added that this did not mean VPIRG had ruled out the idea of forming a super PAC in the future.
VPIRG is not the only environmental organization in Vermont to have a PAC. Vermont Conservation Voters has a super PAC that paid for mailers endorsing specific candidates last election. (While super PACs, which can take unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and other groups, cannot under federal law coordinate with candidates or campaigns, they can still fund candidate advertisements.)
