Tag Archives: Peter Galbraith

Gubernatorial forum on a bleak and bloody Sunday

It was a polite crowd of about sixty Franklin County voters who braved the terrible morning news, cold and rain to shuffle into folding chairs and listen to four gubernatorial candidates discuss the issues.

The candidate forum at St. Paul’s in St. Albans was hardly a partisan pitchfork convention, as Phil Scott, noteworthy for his absence, might have expected. An empty chair at the table was the only reference to the missing Lieutenant Governor.

Once the rules of engagement were laid out by representatives of “Rights & Democracy” (organizers of the event), the candidates were invited to give a three minute introduction of themselves.

To his credit, Matt Dunne, who was first to speak, used his three minutes to remember the 50 individuals who were gunned down overnight in Orlando.

After the other candidates had been given their opportunity for a stump speech, the candidates were each in turn asked to answer the same set of questions about jobs and economic opportunity, healthcare, affordable housing, education, energy and the environment. Each response was limited to two minutes and most of the candidates respected the time limits.

Those questions were followed by audience questions, submitted earlier on pieces of paper, with only one-minute allowed to each candidate for a response. There still wasn’t enough time left for all of the audience questions.

In light of the news of the day, I had submitted a question on assault weapons and I know that one other person had asked about efforts to address the dangerous climate of hate and bullying that has recently been in the news. Neither question made the cut.

Of the four candidates, Sue Minter and Matt Dunne made by far the best impression, giving clear and well considered responses that demonstrated their personal strengths as candidates.
Sue Minter is the candidate of greatest public service experience and Matt Dunne projects the dynamism of a quick and entrepreneurial mind. Both came across as capable, comfortable and socially adept.

Peter Galbraith projected passion and determination, and most of his ideas appeared to differ minimally from those of the other Democratic candidates.

The thing that fired him up the most and drew considerable applause from the audience, though,  was the issue of industrial scale wind, to which he is vehemently opposed.  In fact, his energy policy has a great deal more to do with curbing consumption than replacing it with renewables. I have to say, I see a lot to like in that perspective, since there is almost no national effort toward reducing consumption, and emphasis in that area is badly needed.

Bruce Lisman, as well, is opposed to industrial scale wind. He may in fact be opposed to even small scale wind projects, but I am not at all sure. Many of his responses were a little vague, as I remembered from the last time I heard him speak a couple of years ago. He tended to go off question a bit in order to address topics that were of more interest to him, but that left some listeners, like myself, struggling to follow his train of thought.
I believe that, unlike the other three, he does not support increasing the minimum wage even to $12.; but again, he didn’t really say so.
On the subject of marijuana legalization, Mr. Lisman is opposed while the other three support it with some variation in roll-out and management.

All of the candidates were eager to answer the last question the afternoon, “What would you have done differently from the current governor?’  Sue Minter replied that she would not have promised something she couldn’t deliver, and Matt Dunne also said that he would have handled the health care rollout very differently; drawing on his own experience to avoid the software disaster that plagued the Governor’s efforts.  Mr. Galbraith would have given a better account of what the Governor’s healthcare plan would  cost and how he would have paid for it.

Mr. Lisman said there were many things he would have done differently from Governor Shumlin, but pressed with just a minute of response time, he settled for saying that he would have been “truthful.”

I thought it was too bad, given the implications of the day’s headline tragedy, that no opportunity was taken to discuss Vermont’s singularly lax gun regulations, or the growth of hate crimes and bigotry throughout the nation.

I keep hearing that we don’t have a gun problem in Vermont; and many would argue that we don’t have a hate crime problem here, either; but bullying is very real even in Vermont, and we are not an island. Sooner or later, gun ‘problems’ will be visited on Vermont as surely as on our neighbor states.

…But I guess we’ll have to save those issues for another election cycle.

Matt Dunne picks up key endorsements

As Bernie’s campaign considers the way forward, our Vermont contests are just getting interesting.

Democratic candidate for governor, Matt Dunne has announced two huge endorsements from organized labor that should significantly bolster his campaign.  Both the Vermont Labor Council of the AFL-CIO and the Vermont Service Employee’s Association VSEA have come out for Dunne.

Dunne was a strong contender in the 2010 election cycle that ultimately delivered the governorship to Peter Shumin. I remember his enthusiastic young canvassers from that race, and was delighted to see them out in force this time, as well.  I had a very pleasant visit from two of his youthful squad a couple of days ago, the first canvassers to come to my door this year.

Sunday’s forum in St. Albans at St. Paul’s Methodist Church will be my first opportunity to hear from all of the Democratic candidates…and Bruce Lisman…on one stage and I am really looking forward to the experience.

It’s unusual to have a forum including members of both parties during the primary, but I am most eager to hear Lisman’s response to the inevitable question as to whether or not he will be a Donald Trump supporter.

I suppose, since Lisman played coy about his political affiliation for a number of years after launching “Campaign for Vermont,” he thinks maybe he still has a chance to pick up some votes from the Blue Dogs in Franklin County.

With Matt Dunne, Sue Minter and Peter Galbraith to contend with, all strong policy veterans with progressive chops, Lisman will have his work cut out for him just to look relevant. He may have cut a figure on Wall Street, but in Vermont, he’s just a carpetbagger without the good sense to try putting in some lesser public service before reaching for the governor’s mansion.

In any case, it should be an interesting evening.

Gubernatorial Candidates’ Forum Sunday

Thank you to Paula Schramm who provided the following information for anyone who would like to attend a Gubernatorial Candidates Panel in Franklin County:

St. Albans Gubernatorial Candidates Panel – Sunday June 12th

When: Sunday June 12th 2:00-4:00pm
Where: St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (11 Church St. St Albans, VT)
Featuring: Matt Dunne, Sue Minter, Peter Galbraith, Bruce Lisman

RSVP here or at www.radvt.org/june12
or on Facebook at – https://www.facebook.com/events/1082285081828401/
Pose questions for the candidates at radvt.org/june12questions

The next Governor of Vermont will have to make critical decisions that will shape the lives of our communities for decades. Our next governor could be the leader who will help grow a vibrant, stable, open Vermont for all families. Who are the people who want to take on this role? Where do they stand on the issues that will most affect our lives and families in Franklin County? We have invited all current candidates and have confirmations already from Matt Dunne, Sue Minter, Peter Galbraith and Bruce Lisman. Join us and spread the word!

The Candidates Panel is hosted by Rights & Democracy, a new statewide grassroots organization geared to bring people together to take action to build healthy communities and make the values of our communities guide the policies of our government. We work in partnership with community groups, progressive unions, faith communities, organizations fighting for human and civil rights, and environmental and climate action groups. Co-sponsors include Main Street Alliance, Voices for Vermont’s Children, and the Vermont Center for Independent Living.

Interesting, isn’t it that notably absent from he lineup is Phil Scott, who apparently prefers to keep his head down and hope no one notices.

Skipping such events suggests a certain entitlement on the part of Scott, which national voters in this election cycle do not seem to find at all attractive.

If Franklin County voters get the impression that Scott thinks the Republican nomination is in-the-bag for him, they just might not show up at the ballot boxes.

‘Just sayin’…

 

Peter Galbraith: “Galbraith to enter Democratic Primary for Governor”

After weeks of hints and waiting, Peter Galbraith, yes Peter Galbraith will announce today that he,Peter Galbraith will enter the Democratic gubernatorial primary race.PGalbraith3

After extensive consultation with Peter Galbraith, Peter Galbraith has concluded the time is right to offer Peter Galbraith’s leadership to the state of Vermont. Peter Galbraith will be holding a news conference at the Vermont State House today.

Former Vermont Democratic State Senator Peter Galbraith has retained former Republican Roger Albee as Peter Galbraith’s campaign treasurer.

Neal Goswami of Vermont News Bureau tweeted that Peter Galbraith’s announcement was emailed to him by Ian Moskowitz who recently was political director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party and most recently emailed Peter Galbraith’s gubernatorial announcement email.

Peter Galbraith will be joining Sue Minter and Matt Dunne who entered the race prior to Peter Galbraith’s announcement later today.

Matt Dunne wants a little Bernie buzz?

As of now, Matt Dunne is the one to beat, at least in terms of money raised. Vermont News Bureau’s Neal Goswami reports that Dunne now has more than $430,000 in cash-on-hand — the most of any gubernatorial candidate — for the remainder of the primary season and into the general election if he wins the nomination. Dunne’s Democratic primary opponent, Sue Minter,  currently has $328,500 cash on hand which is nothing to sneeze at, either. So this current advantage may not make Dunne a front-runner, but he can hang his hat on it for now.

Right now, it looks like the Dunne campaign hopes to piggy-back on turnout and fund raising among the Bernie Sanders voters. Should Sanders win or lose the nomination the enthusiasm for change he fueled is likely to spill over to some degree into November.newbuzzmenu

Dunne had already moved to mark out a share of that territory with his refusal of corporate donations. Said Dunne when he gave back about $16,000.00 in corporate donations “inspired by Bernie Sanders and his ability to compete with a people-powered campaign.” 

Good strategy, but the announcement likely produced fewer bangs for his bucks thanks to the scene-stealing skills of Peter Galbraith. At the news conference called by Dunne, Galbraith ‘reluctantly’ commented on whether he may or may not enter the gubernatorial primary race.

The other day Dunne’s campaign manager pitched or those voters again  – linking Bernie’s enthusiastic voter base with Dunne’s fundraising philosophy:

“There’s a wide mix, including a great deal of in-state Vermonters who have made small-dollar contributions,” Nick Charyk said. “We have contributions from Vermonters in every county in the state and a lot of Vermonters who have never made a contribution before who have said, ‘my first contribution was to Bernie [Sanders] and now I’m donating to Matt.’”

Whoever wins the gubernatorial primary – Dunne or Minter – better build a good turnout firewall: Republican Phil Scott not only has excellent statewide name recognition with all voters but can also count on support from some Democrats even in a presidential year. Senator Dick Mazza (D, alleged) is already fundraising for his favorite Republican friend. And Senator John Campbell, Scott’s other Democratic BFF may even be counted on to help out the Republican in a pinch.

And former state senator Peter Galbraith has warned us he is waiting in the wings and may enter the primary race – joining the performance already underway.