Whether critical or complimentary of Rutland Forward, many observers of Rutland city politics agree that the organization played a key role in the election of a new mayor — and the ouster of an incumbent.
Registered as a political action committee in Vermont, Rutland Forward fielded nine candidates in the March 7 elections for city and school board posts. All of its candidates won, including Michael Doenges, who was sworn in as mayor on Wednesday. He replaced David Allaire, who had held the seat for six years.
“It’s a whole different approach to getting elected in Rutland, and it worked,” said Tom Donahue, CEO of the nonprofit social services agency BROC Community Action and former president of the city’s board of aldermen. “It was highly successful.”
The tactics of Rutland Forward — which started fielding local candidates in 2021 — included mailers, social media marketing and a digital palm card, a candidate list designed to be stored on a mobile device. These supplemented the traditional campaign yard signs, sign waves and public appearances.
Donahue said the PAC’s digital strategies were particularly important in courting young people, whose votes he believes tilted the race toward Doenges. The new mayor beat Allaire 1,710-1,317. About a quarter of Rutland’s 11,800 voters turned out last week, according to the city clerk’s office, but there’s no way to know voters’ ages.
The bottom line, Donahue said, is that Rutland Forward supporters were committed enough to the group that they voted for its entire slate of candidates. “That’s what made it work at the end of the day,” said Donahue, who does not endorse candidates but who moderated candidate forums leading up to Town Meeting Day.
Rutland Forward, whose slogan is “making a Rutland for everyone,” is regarded by observers as a progressive political organization. Its treasurer, John Atwood, said the group doesn’t espouse a political ideology and is not affiliated with any political party.
“We’ve worked with candidates of varying political persuasions,” he said. “Yes, many of our candidates would call themselves progressive, but not all of them.”
He said the organization selects candidates to support based on whether they’re invested in Rutland, don’t hold extreme views and are willing to work hard with the group.
Doenges, who entered politics through the board of aldermen in 2021, was part of Rutland Forward’s first slate of candidates.
‘Big city politics’
Some municipal officials see Rutland Forward’s emergence as an intrusion into local elections of the machinery and money associated more with big-city politics.
Recently reelected Alderman Bill Gillam Jr., who was not endorsed by Rutland Forward, said city residents should be able to win a seat on the board armed with just a few hundred dollars and their community involvement, experience and leadership skills. Belonging to a political organization shouldn’t be a prerequisite, he said.
“We’re going to lose that individual person that can actually contribute a lot to the city,” said Gillam, who supported Allaire for mayor. “That’s what we should be pushing — it’s getting people to participate and not have to belong to a group.”
Alderwoman Sharon Davis, who endorsed Allaire, said the PAC’s ability to raise bigger amounts of money sidelines other candidates.
“Can anybody raise money? Absolutely. Can anybody put out flyers? Absolutely. But it’s the amount of money that is difficult to raise to be in competition with Rutland Forward,” she said.
In response to the criticism, Atwood said the organization has, in fact, leveled the playing field in local elections. He said the group has created the opportunity for people who don’t have long histories in Rutland, or who don’t have name recognition, to run for public office.
“I think we’ve actually opened up space for a new type of candidate to be able to compete,” said Atwood, who unsuccessfully ran for the board of aldermen multiple times.
He said raising money is an important part of political campaigns. “I guess we’re competing hard,” he said, “and money is certainly very useful.”
The deadline for disclosing campaign finances for Town Meeting Day isn’t until next week. But Atwood provided VTDigger with internal reports, stating Rutland Forward spent $4,000 on their postcard mailers, as well as $400 on printing and envelopes.
He said the group’s social media marketing didn’t involve any paid placements, only the free features of social media platforms.
The media and the message
Doenges believes Rutland Forward contributed to his mayoral win as much as he helped in the group’s election success. He said the organization’s strong slate of candidates likely gave him a boost, while his efforts to be widely seen and heard could have broadened the slate’s reach.
Doenges considers his campaign’s multimedia strategy as key to his victory. Because people get news and information from a variety of sources, he said he tried to get in front of voters through every medium possible: the local newspaper, local TV stations, online news, mailers, radio, YouTube and Facebook.
“If you consumed all those pieces of media,” he said, “you get the same thing over and over.”
Allaire declined to comment on the factors that could have influenced the election, but said leaving the mayor’s office didn’t mean he was disappearing from public life.
“You haven’t seen the last of me,” Allaire said on his last full day in office.
Other community members also attributed Doenges’ win to his personality, ideas and vision for Rutland.
Doenges campaigned on revitalizing the city — Vermont’s second largest municipality for most of the last century — based on long-range planning. With a master plan spanning 20-25 years, Doenges said, Rutland can innovate and redevelop into a place where future generations will choose to build their lives.
His priorities include reversing the city’s decades-long population decline, creating more housing and attracting new businesses while combating rising crime and homelessness.
Steve Costello, a retired Green Mountain Power executive, endorsed Doenges for mayor, the first time he publicly supported a political candidate. He praised Allaire’s accomplishments as a mayor and his integrity as an official but said he believed Rutland needed a leader like Doenges at this moment.
“We have a lot of work that really needs to get done,” Costello said, “and Mike, I think, is the guy who presents the best opportunity to get that kind of stuff done.” He cited Doenges’ accomplishments in the local organizations where they’ve served together.
Rep. William Notte, D-Rutland City, who also endorsed Doenges, described the candidate’s optimism and strategic planning as a winning combination.
“That really gave a lot of people hope,” he said.
Lyle Jepson, director of the Chamber and Economic Development of the Rutland Region, which remains neutral on political races, said the mayoral candidates are both well-liked and didn’t vary greatly in the solutions they proposed to Rutland’s major problems.
But Jepson said he believed Doenges was more effective in getting his message out to voters, on top of running a strategic campaign that included being part of Rutland Forward.