Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate James Ehlers has jumped into two political races.
He’s running as an independent for a House seat in Winooski and for a Chittenden County Senate seat. The labor organizer and environmental advocate is running on a progressive platform that endorses a minimum wage above $15 per hour, centralizes water quality issues and supports a humanitarian mission for the Vermont National Guard.
Ehlers is known to be an uncompromising advocate, sometimes to a fault. His competitors have raised concerns about his strident demand for change. But Ehlers says someone has to tell it like it is.
As in his 2018 run for governor, past social media posts are raising concerns about Ehlers. That year, social media posts and media comments resurfaced that directly contradicted the progressive values he seemed to espouse as a Democratic competitor.
Winooski House candidate Taylor Small said she is wary of Ehlers’ attitude about the LGBTQ community due to a meme Ehlers posted to his Facebook page in 2017, seemingly mocking a Middle Eastern man wearing a dress.
Ehlers said he jumped into the races because no other candidates are focusing enough on environmental issues — specifically, clean water supplies.
“When the primary candidates became known, not a single one from any party, in any substantive way, had a willingness to address … the degradation of our recreational and drinking water supplies,” Ehlers said, referring to both the House and Senate candidates.
And he doesn’t think other candidates have put enough emphasis on the noise pollution brought to Winooski and Burlington by the Air National Guard’s F-35 fighter jets, which can reach 115 decibels.
Ehlers is also a policy adviser for Lake Champlain International, an organization that advocates for Lake Champlain’s water quality. Ehlers said he’s seen a number of environmental bills introduced in the Legislature, but thinks leadership isn’t willing to take them up. Now, he wants to try to make change from the inside.
“I’ve been an environmental advocate, it’s hard to believe, for almost 25 years at this point,” Ehlers said. “Outside advice alone isn’t working.”
An AFSCME labor organizer and a Shaw’s night-shift truck unloader, Ehlers, who turns 52 this year, said he believes the Chittenden County minimum wage should be well above $15 to meet livable wage standards. He would support a $27-an-hour minimum wage for the county. Otherwise, people will have to rely on government subsidies, he argues.
Ehlers, a Navy veteran, has told voters that, if elected, he would introduce legislation to transition the National Guard “from its offensive combat role to a humanitarian mission and expand its civil and medical units.”
When asked how one state legislator could overturn decades of institutionalized military power, Ehlers said he knows many Vermonters who don’t support the violence the National Guard and the military represent.
“You don’t get change unless you’re willing to be the change,” Ehlers said. “I understand this mantle is not one that most people are willing to undertake. And if people want that kind of leadership, then they’ll vote for me.”
While it was erroneously reported in The Vermont Daily that Ehlers ranked second in fundraising among Chittenden County candidates, Ehlers said he’s not raising money for his campaign and he hasn’t spent any money on his campaign. The Daily has since corrected its post.
Controversial meme
In the Winooski House race, which is a two-seat district, Ehlers is running against Democratic incumbent Hal Colston and political newcomer Taylor Small, a Democrat/Progressive. If Small wins, she would become the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker.
Small said she doesn’t know much about Ehlers. But she has concerns about him as a candidate because of a meme he posted in 2017 to his personal Facebook page that was brought to her attention.
The meme depicts a Middle Eastern man in a turban while wearing a dress and high heels. The caption of the photo states, “GAY TERRORIST his name YOMAMA BIN SHOPPIN.” Ehlers had posted the image in reference to a dispute over Berlin Pond, a drinking water source in Montpelier that activists have been protective of.
“The individual below was spotted leaving the vicinity of the proposed canoe access. There are clearly no shoe shops anywhere in the area and he was not outfitted with TP and a five-gallon bucket,” Ehlers wrote above the meme.
This isn’t the first time Ehlers has been criticized for statements or posts he published online. In the 2018 gubernatorial election, Ehlers was criticized for past social media posts and comments in the media expressing anti-abortion, anti-union and anti-progressive viewpoints.
During that time, he told VTDigger that he has always been a supporter of marginalized groups, and these past writings aimed to agitate his opponents and challenge their ideologies.
Small called the meme “homophobic.” She said she thinks it’s concerning that the meme may indicate Ehlers’ isn’t accepting of LGBTQ people.
“Does it impact me directly? No,” Small said. “But it does send a message to our community around othering folks and not embracing the full breadth and depth of the people in our community. Especially in Winooski, which is one of our most diverse cities in the state of Vermont.”
She also pushed back on Ehlers’ assertion that no other candidates are focusing on environmental issues, specifically water quality. She said climate change has been a central issue in her campaign and cleaning up Vermont’s water sources is a concern of hers.
Colston also disagreed that Ehlers is the only candidate focusing on environmental issues and his contention that the Legislature isn’t prioritizing that work. He pointed to the Global Warming Solutions Act, which passed this session, that sets unprecedented emissions reduction goals.
Colston also questioned why Ehlers is running in two races. “I just find it a little bizarre,” he said. “So if he wins both, well, how does that work? I mean, it’s like, why are you doing this?” Under Vermont election law, nothing prohibits a candidate from running in multiple races.
As a member of the Winooski City Council, Colston said he’s also experienced Ehlers trying to intimidate other members of the council over environmental concerns on construction of new developments and issues with one of the city’s intersections. He said he doesn’t think Ehlers has the collaborative skills to compromise over legislation.
“He was just nasty, nasty about how to make change happen,” Colston said. “He was being very demanding and kind of bullish. So it’s like, how are you going to get things done working in the Legislature with 150 people? That just doesn’t cut it.”
Ehlers said he posted the meme in response to concerns raised by officials that “terrorists” could interfere and introduce harmful substances through an intake pipe from Berlin Pond, used to supply Montpelier’s drinking water. Ehlers said he thought the “terrorist” label was being targeted toward fishermen and anglers, so he posted the meme to make a point about what he felt was a prejudiced comparison.
One commenter on the post wrote, “Homophobia/Islamophobia doesn’t keep water sources clean. Period. Please get back on track.”
To which Ehlers responded, “Right?! The nerve of the supposed clean water crew to suggest Berlin Pond could be subject of a terrorist attack. The depths to which greedy people will go.”
Ehlers said he’s a supporter of the LGBTQ community. He thinks that it’s “unfortunate” that Small thinks the meme was homophobic. “This was pointing out the absurdity of people making biased assumptions,” Ehlers said of the Facebook post.
He also accused VTDigger of bias for asking questions about the meme. Ehlers said he doesn’t understand why the post is “germane” to his race.
