Tag Archives: Corey Parent

What has Corey Parent got that Carol Breuer wants? Chapter 2.

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Franklin County candidate for state senate, Corey Parent presents himself reasonably enough, as a “local boy,” “family man” and someone who “reaches across the aisle;” but you have to ask yourself why Tom and Carol Breuer, big time far-right conservative donors who have been especially active in opposing gay rights in Massachusetts, have been contributing heavily to Parent, in particular, over the course of the past two election cycles.

Some may recall a blogpost about Parent and the Breuers that I wrote way back in 2016 when I first was made aware of their oversized support for Parent, who ran successfully in that election for the House.

That targeted support suggests to me that Parent is being groomed as another handmaid of the religious right, which, as we have seen on the national stage, is less interested in cooperating in order to do the people’s business than it is in arresting the evolution of our diverse democracy toward more progressive and inclusive policies.

This does not make me want Parent to climb that next rung of the ladder into the state senate.

Surely the folly of promoting individuals backed by the far right has more than proven itself since Donald Trump took the White House by questionable means.

I’m sorry if this sounds harsh, but here is where it all begins.  Local candidates strike the contribution mother load, then bind themselves ever tighter to an exclusionary special interest, as they rise in political fortune on a sea of easy cash.  

For me, this is not what the democratic process should be all about.

What has Corey Parent got that Carol Breuer wants?

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What interest does a family of gay marriage opposition activists in Massachusetts have in heavily funding one Franklin County Republican House member’s campaigns, in particular?

I was taken aback the first time a billboard-size banner for local Republican senate candidate Dustin Degree popped up near the access road to I-89 in St. Albans. When an equally gigantic banner for Republican House candidate Corey Parent joined it, I must confess I almost veered off the road! Phil Scott’s banner at the same location is roughly one-third the size!

Now I know where some of the money is coming from.

When this story first came to my attention more than a week ago, I decided to do a little additional digging to try and put some flesh on the bones before setting the question before GMD readers.

I am honestly stumped.

According to records, one Carol Breuer of Winchester Massachusetts, and her husband Tom Breuer, appear to have given my St. Albans City Representative, Corey Parent, the princely sum of $8,000. in campaign contributions since 2013.

In the notorious world of quid-pro-quo (gleefully played like a fiddle by Donald J. Trump), one must ask what exactly they expect to get in return for their considerable investment?

Several Franklin County Republican candidates received support form the Breuers in 2013-2014, including Larry Fiske (Franklin 7) who was also remembered in 2016. His total in contributions from the Breuers for both campaigns has run to $4,000., with only $1,000. so far in 2016.

In 2013-2014 Tom Breuer also gave $4,000. each in contributions to Franklin County Senators Norm McAllister and Dustin Degree among a host of statewide Republican candidates including Phil Scott who netted a relatively modest total of $4,000. for 2014 and 2016 combined.

Though they seem to be Massachusetts based, the Breuers appear to have acquired a property in Stowe in 2013, and have contributed heavily to Vermont Republicans ever since. Whereas most candidates get only one bite of the Breuer apple, Parent is one of the very few in 2016 to get $1,000. from Carol and then another $1,000. from Tom.

Other “big winners” from the Breuer bankroll have been Robert L. Bancroft (Chittenden 8-3) $7,000. since 2013; Scott L. Beck (Caledonia 3) $6,250 since 2013; and Warren Van Wyck (Addison 3) $6,000. since 2013). Details of all contributions are available on the Secretary of State’s website, if you have a lot of time to kill.

Overall, the Breuers have invested more in Parent ($8,000.) than in any other individual candidate. As a constituent, this has definitely provoked my interest.

These seem extraordinarily high figures for what are essentially out-of-state, individual contributions to a House race representing relatively few constituents.

In July and August of 2016, the Breuers also contributed $8,000. to Commonsense Leadership, a PAC heavily weighted with tobacco and pharmaceutical industry interests.

Commonsense recently ran afoul of Vermont campaign finance law, as detailed in Seven Days on March 18, by Paul Heinz

There is an intolerant tinge to the money that comes from the Breuers and we must wonder what they are peddling this time. http://bluemassgroup.com/2008/09/gang-of-three-state-republicans-get-funding-from-bigoted-group/

The Breuers have supported the Massachusetts Independent Political Action Committee for Working Families, (MIPAC) and the Family Research Council Political Action Committee, identified in 2010 as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center https:// www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/family-research-council.

Carol Breuer has also given generously to the infamous Family Research Council Action PAC.

All of these entities have focussed on undermining the rights of the LGBTQ community.

I, for one, would appreciate a much more in-depth examination by the media of where the big money that is invading our local races is coming from.

One has to ask why a Massachusetts-based family with such a negative political agenda has chosen to focus so much of their financial support on my legislative representative, and why he has chosen to accept it.

*(Here again is the link that the SS office gave me to campaign finance filings from 2014: https://www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/campaign-finance/search-previous-years-reports/ post-2009-report-search.aspx )

Primary Flashback and Franklin County Frolics

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A belated congratulations are due to GMD’s own Mike McCarthy, who now, officially joins Rep. Kathy Keenan as our excellent  Democratic candidates for the Vermont House from St. Albans City.  Mike has already served a term as St. Albans’ House Rep. so we look forward to having him back again.

The heat knocked me out for the past week or so, but I’ve recovered enough to want to comment on the outcome of the primary.

Although I wasn’t particularly active in the primary, I could not be more pleased with the outcome. Despite the pain we all feel at the national spectacle, I think we have much to be grateful for, here at home.

Sue Minter and Dave Zuckerman comprise a very strong Democratic ticket. I look forward to the debates with relish!

I was also pleased to learn that despite the early endorsement pass by the VCV, Philip Baruth will be defending his seat against the Republican challengers once again.

Returning to Franklin County, it was, I think, a relief for the entire county that disgraced senator Norm McAllister went down in defeat. We can now refer to him summarily as ‘disgraced ex-senator’ Norm McAllister…and doesn’t that feel good.

Nevertheless, roughly 700 Franklin County voters actually endorsed candidate McAllister, leaving one to ponder whether his family is exceptionally large, or there is a significant population out there with disturbing attitudes toward women.

None could have been more relieved with the primary results than Franklin County Republicans, who would have not found it a pleasant experience to campaign on the same ticket with a virtual pariah

Stepping into the breech for Republicans was Representative Carolyn Branagan, who will join Dustin Degree in competition against our two outstanding Democratic candidates for senate, former Senator Sara Kittell and clean lake activist, Denise Smith.

It goes without saying that I support Sara and Denise without reservation, but I have to say that Brannagan would be a strong third choice. She’s a good moderate representative for her district and has a pretty good environmental voting record.

Incredibly, Branagan got some grief from McAllister and some of his supporters for having had the temerity to offer herself as a candidate in the scorched aftermath of McAllister’s untimely departure. No one expected him to run again, given that he was facing numerous charges for crimes against women; but run he did, submitting his petition in the last minute of the eleventh hour, when no one had a chance to discover that it did not satisfy the minimum of the law before time ran out on a challenge. That didn’t stop him from attacking, in a parting shot, the only woman on Franklin County’s Republican senate ticket

So now we have an interesting race shaping up for two senate seats in Franklin County: two strong Democratic women, one respected Republican woman…and Dustin Degree.

It does seem fitting that, for his sins, McAllister will definitely see a woman he probably loathes in his senatorial seat….no matter which woman that ends up being.

Of course, popular wisdom around here probably has Degree holding onto his seat, but I beg to differ. Branagan came in a strong second to Degree in the primary; and I think that even Republicans may be ready for a little more estrogen in the Franklin County delegation.

And there are those nagging, unanswered questions about who-knew-what-when.

In what could only be imagined as an attempt to drag Degree under the bus along with him, thus improving his own chances in the primary, McAllister himself hinted broadly that Degree knew more about him (and presumably, the ‘intern’) than anyone else.

We may never learn the whole story about the intern, but McAllister’s statement means Degree is in for some increased scrutiny.

Degree and McAllister campaigned almost in tandem in the past two election cycles. They passed two years as seatmates in the senate. The intern maintains that she helped on their shared campaign.

It is difficult to believe that Degree never visited the apartment where McAllister shared a bedroom with the intern, and that he never observed how very young and fragile she looked next to the sexagenarian farmer who presumably bossed her around at the statehouse.

Also to be questioned is Mike McCarthy’s House opponent Cory Parent, who gave the teenaged intern rides back to Franklin County from the statehouse. He seems to have been another close intimate of McAllister’s. One would think the relationship between McAllister and the intern could not have been entirely unobserved by Parent and Degree.

So, it should be interesting over the next couple of months. I sincerely hope that whoever conducts the debates does not shy away from the McAllister question. The voters deserve some answers before they cast their ballots again.

GOP War on Women Comes to Vermont

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The latest bulletin from St. Albans City Representative Corey Parent makes no mention of an amendment which he and 32 other Republicans supported; one which, if widely known, is likely to reinforce the perception that the national Republican war on women has descended upon Vermont.

The amendment in question, attached to H.620, was introduced by Rep. Willhoit of St. Johnsbury, but failed 107-33. To wit:

“In Sec. 1, 8 V.S.A. § 4099c, by adding a subsection (h) to read as follows:
(h)(1) Upon request by a religious employer, as described in 26 U.S.C. § 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) and (iii) and as certified by the Commissioner of Financial Regulation, a health insurer shall make available a health insurance plan that does not provide coverage for contraceptive services.”

I think we can safely assume that there was no such measure afoot to defund Viagra supply for the gentlemen of our fair state.

Funny how that works.

You would think that, after the multiple violations against female constituents that Republican Senator Norm McAllister is alleged to have committed, Republicans in both chambers would be inclined to tread more softly on the matter of women’s reproductive rights.

That 33 Republican members of the House had the temerity to give employers dominion over the private consciences and reproductive rights of working women suggests that it is time to take the argument to a new level.

I am not aware of any other restrictions on employees’ purchase of goods or services that have been similarly ceded to the prerogative of their employers.

Put very plainly, support for legislation that would  effectively restrict access to contraception should be understood to be a vote in favor of abortion.

With Donald Trump as the national standard bearer, and the stench of rape, exploitation, and party indifference  lingering in Franklin County’s GOP  like limburger cheese on a  humid day, it’s going to be ugly for Republicans in this election cycle.