This commentary is by Kolby LaMarche, a Democrat from Burlington.
When I served on the executive committee of the Vermont Republican Party, I saw firsthand the dysfunction of a drowning party and its poor leadership.
Instead of working toward clarifying the party’s message to the electorate, the executive committee became an echo chamber for Vermont’s staunchest Trump supporters.
During my time within various party offices, I had the opportunity of meeting and working alongside the then-VTGOP political director — and now, the newly elected chair — Paul Dame, who also regularly attended executive committee meetings. I had initially met Dame early into my introduction to politics. He thanked me for my engagement as a young person and expressed his excitement for my involvement in the party.
This greeting came as a pleasant surprise, since previous to this I had only heard negative criticisms, which ranged from his poor competency to his supposed social awkwardness. I admired Dame for his intelligence and hard work, which proved most of the rumors to be false.
As I continued working within the party, I began to see the magic that had allowed Dame to exert such close influence on the VTGOP and access to former chairwoman Deb Billado. Dame is a cool political gymnast, a man who is able to balance, delicately, atop a fine ideological beam, between moderate Phil Scott Republicans and their unfortunate counterparts, the Trumpsters.
He positioned himself as the logistical backbone of the VTGOP, which also granted him immunity from being held accountable by either side of the right.
However, with the 2024 elections soon to come, the division within the VTGOP will worsen and I presume Dame will soon face a difficult tenure. The precursor to this impending strife: an email sent by far-right groaner Bob Orleck a day before the VTGOP’s reorganization. Dame was slammed by Orleck as being responsible for President Biden’s perceived failings because Dame didn’t “vote for President Donald Trump in either 2016 or 2020.”
Orleck went on to write that Dame “seems to be the choice of RINOs such as … Phil Scott” and continued the email by professing his admiration and support for anti-vax activist Jim Sexton, one of the two candidates who ran for chair. Though Sexton failed to gain control over the VTGOP, he isn’t the only player Dame has to worry about. Right-wing antagonists like Ron Lawrence, Ellie Martin, Robby Mazza, Kay Trudel, Wendy Wilton and many more are sure to give him a hard time should he stray away from toeing the former president’s line, not the VTGOP’s.
Since day one of his term, Dame has failed to shepherd moderate Republicans into his political arc of friendship. The “Let’s Go Brandon” rally, which Dame proudly championed, was seen by elected Republicans like Rep. Scott Beck, R-St. Johnsbury, and Gov. Phil Scott as sending the wrong message to Vermont voters, with Beck stating “events like these are why Vermont doesn’t take the GOP seriously.”
While this move may have appeased the Trump-supporting factions of the party, Dame’s actions push him one step closer to a return of Deb Billado’s legacy of radio silence between the party and the governor.
While the hidden balancing act that Dame has played for years may have awarded him a seamless victory for the chair position, he has since been cast into Vermont’s political foreground and Vermonters ought to remain wide-eyed and wary of the Vermont Republican Party.
