Lately we’ve heard of the stellar composition of Vince Illuzzi’s fundraiser “host committee” — notably including some of his State Senate colleagues of the Democratic persuasion: Dick Mazza, Hinda Miller, and former Senator Elizabeth Ready, crossing party lines to support Illuzzi’s latterly-declared bid for Auditor and (implicitly) oppose their party’s choice for the gig, Doug Hoffer.
Something in the water in our senior chamber, perhaps?
Well, here comes more happy news of Senate bipartisanship in the Auditor’s race. Or, to use a different word, betrayal. The (paywalled) Vermont Press Bureau brings us this touching anecdote:
Senate President Pro Tem John Campbell served as Illuzzi’s personal photographer during the Independence Day parade in Montpelier,taking shots as Illuzzi shook hands along the parade route.
Illuzzi said Campbell also acted as a sort of “choreographer” during the parade. “He’d say, ‘Stand here and go here,'” said Illuzzi. “It was very helpful, actually.”
Campbell hasn’t replied to VPB’s request for comment, but Vince certainly has. Is Campbell going to cross party lines and actually endorse Illuzzi?
“Endorse is an interesting word,” he said. “He is sympathetic.”
“Let’s put it this way,” Illuzzi added. “He’s certainly not opposing me.”
Awwww. So cute you could puke. Especially if you believe in some semblance of party loyalty, eh?
This is the same John Campbell who seemed to have more trouble with his own Democratic caucus than with the other guys, who repeatedly bollixed up the agenda, fell way behind the House’s pace on key bills, got into a public argument with fellow Dem Dick McCormack (in which he called McCormack “a horse’s ass” within hearing distance of a reporter), and blamed freshmen Senators for screwing up the Senate’s inner workings and basically telling them to STFU. He didn’t name names in that quote, but he clearly had significant differences with fellow Dems Peter Galbraith and Phil Baruth during the session.
To recap… John Campbell gets along just fine with his longtime Senate buds, regardless of party. He has trouble with Democrats who don’t toe his line. He’s engaged in a PDA with one of the Republicans’ statewide candidates. Gee, maybe we should redraw party lines in the Senate: you’d have the Prog/Dems, the Republicans, and the Old Buddies’ Club. If the Buddies can’t scare up a majority, then we can set up a brace of comfy chairs in the corner where they can smoke cigars and mutter imprecations at the whipper-snappers of the Senate.