Democratic Secretary of State Primary Suddenly (and needlessly?) gets very ugly

Elections – Secretary of State: A bizarre war of words has erupted in the Democratic Primary for Secretary of State between candidate Charles Merriman of Middlesex and non-candidate Jake Perkinson, Chittenden County Democratic Party Chair, and supporter of Merriman’s opponent, former Chittenden Senator Jim Condos.

It began with Merriman’s appearence on the Mark Johnson Show last week, where he made the following, almost inconceivable statement as a candidate in the Democratic Party primary, looking for Democratic Primary votes:

“I should have run as an independent. You know it was… um… I thought about

it and frankly I ran as a Democrat because I figured I had a better chance of

winning than if I ran as an independent. If I get in, I’ll run as an independent next time.”

What’s followed is a bit of a Democratic Party tempest. First came an email signed by Perkinson and Middlesex Town Dem Chair Taryn Moran, that included the quote, the audio clip, and the following:

As both a Middlesex (Charlie’s home) Town Democratic Chair and a Chittenden County Democratic Chair, we were shocked when we heard this, and find it extremely disappointing that he is only using the Democratic Party to satisfy his personal ambition. Then after the election, should he win; he would turn around and abandon the Democratic Party. He wants to use all of our hard work and our good name to win, but he won’t work to build the party.

We hope you know that you will not get that type of attitude out of Jim Condos.[snip] …it is incredibly expensive to run statewide, if you could make a donation of $25, $50, $100, or more to Jim’s campaign it would go a long way to show the voters that Jim Condos is the best candidate in this race.  

Merriman – and one other County Chair – immediately pushed back. More on the flip.

Next was this email that went out to Democratic circles from the Windham County Chair:

To whom it may concern,

I cannot speak to the content or context of Mr. Merriman’s interview. I am however, very surprised that a County Chair or even a Town Chair would publicly do a fundraising campaign for any Candidate in a Statewide Primary race. I am sure we all have our favorites in many races, but this is a very slippery slope in which you descend. One that I can assure you Windham County will not follow. I can only assume that your individual committee’s have approved this letter, as you have signed on their behalf.

Windham County Democratic Chairman

Lamont Barnett

Then came this clearly angry email to the media from Merriman:

Dear Newspaperpeople:

I am forwarding you an email which went out today from two Democratic Party Chairs.  The email criticizes me as a false Democrat, based on my unwavering belief that the office of the secretary of state must be — above all else — nonpartisan. The email seeks support for Jim Condos.

Unwittingly, the email authors have done me a service.  They have perfectly described a major difference between Jim and me. Jim is, first and foremost, a partisan Democrat. When the issue is close, and the choice is between reading and applying the law (something I, as an attorney, am competent to do and Jim is not), or siding with the policy goals of the Democratic majority in the Legislature, Jim will side with the policy goals of the Democratic majority in the Legislature.

That is not the way the office should be run.  To their credit, most members of the Democratic party with whom I have spoken eschew partisanship in the office, even if it is “their” partisan.  They understand that the office must be, above all else, nonpartisan.

Jim is a Democrat who favors first the party. I am a democrat who favors first the rule of law.  In light of this stark difference between the two of us, I am hopeful your paper will endorse my candidacy for Secretary of State.

Best regards,

Charlie

Charles L. Merriman

Candidate,

Vermont Secretary of State

Finally, there was an email from Condos to the media. Rather than distance himself from a burgeoning internal fracas, Condos invited the media to involve him more deeply, and again forwarded the same clip, which suggests a closed loop with Perkinson and Moran from the outset:

I would be more than happy to speak with you on this email from Mr Merriman if you would like to contact me…

Also, Mr Merriman conveniently deleted an audio of his comments on the Mark Johnson show – it is attached.

JIM

There is certainly a lot to consider here. The question of “what on Earth was Merriman thinking” during his Mark Johnson Show comments tends to get trumped by the question of “what on Earth was Merriman thinking” went he sent that email, which did him no favors. One also wonders why Condos and his supporters would let loose in such an aggressive – and to many, off-putting manner – in a primary that, by all current indications, has already likely become his to lose? And what were Moran and Perkinson thinking in signing their titles on such an aggressive primary advocacy letter, invoking their respective offices and bringing their full committees into the affair in the process?

Strange is the thinking in the political bubble, sometimes.

5 thoughts on “Democratic Secretary of State Primary Suddenly (and needlessly?) gets very ugly

  1. For the record – Mr Merriman had copied me on his email to the media and since it involved me, I did send an email to the same list saying they could contact me if they wanted to.

    On a related issue, I am a Democrat, I have been a Democrat and I will be a Democrat.

    I also beleive the SoS office needs to be operated in a non-partisan manner for obvious reasons, but my values that are part of my character are clearly Democratic.

    What I am most proud of is having been elected by Vermonters to represent their interests and concerns in my over 20 years of elected service at both local and state governments.  

    My public/private work experience has involved managing, policy making, operations, and service to Vermonters.  

    I am ready to be Vermont’s next Secretary of State.

  2. I don’t think Merriman’s comments on the radio are all so unholy.  He clearly feels strongly that the SoS is/should be a non-partisan position and he has often, in the media, articulated that that is his goal and vision.  That he recognized running as an independent rather than from a party would harm his chances is a smart assessment; and it’s a clearly different thing throwing a letter behind your name than when an R goes D to try to get elected (hellllo Mr Salmon).  He doesn’t say he’d drop the “D” when elected, just that next time around he’d run as an indy (a move that Dems certainly didn’t mind when Jeffords did the same).

    Likewise, had he’d have run as an indy he would likely have handed the race to the GOP candidate; lots of D’s (and vocal people on this site) strongly urged Pollina to run in a Dem primary in order to avoid the possible spoiler effects of a three-way race; Charlie seems to be doing the same, and it sure appears like a sensible strategy every time.  Let the institutional left (Democratic Party primary) decide amongst itself.

    I also don’t particularly read what you’re reading that’s so “angry” about Charlie’s letter.  He reiterates his point and tries to spin the controversy in his favor and against his opponent- what we’d expect from any candidate.

    How I read this story, Charlie’s remark on the radio is probably ill-advised, but not really crazy or a low-blow or anything near controversial, in my opinion.  I find the response letter from a county chair and town chair to be the only ugly and completely inappropriate (and head-scratching and, frankly, off-putting-ly partisan) thing in this story.  I think the Windham County chair sums that all up quite well.

  3. So why hasn’t the D party provided a comment on this public smack down? I’m surpirsed they let it reach this level. Anybody home over there?

  4. And for what its worth, Jim Condos has been endorsed by the Vermont AFL-CIO. I suspect that Jim will win the primary, hands down. I also expect that he will win the general election, with 51% of the vote with the republican getting 42% the Progressive winning 6% and the Liberty Union pulling 1%. If the Second Vermont Republic is running a candidate (?) these numbers can be reduced down according to the 2% I see them getting.

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