Parties all the time
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Published: September 27, 2009
The Progressives are feeling some of the major party pains that they have handed to Democrats over the years. No sooner did State Rep. David Zuckerman, a prog, say he might run for lieutenant governor as a Democrat while hoping to win the Progressive primary as a write-in candidate than perennial candidate and protester (or maybe it should be perennial protester and candidate) Boots Wardinski announced he was running, too. As a Progressive.
It's not the first time recently a prog has left the party to aid his chances. Anthony Pollina ran as an independent for governor last go-around, and State Sen. Tim Ashe won as a Democrat and Progressive.
And, of course, it's not just Progs who have held more than one nomination. U.S. Rep. Peter Welch was the Democratic and Republican candidate in 2008, as was then-Democratic State Auditor Tom Salmon, who has since switched to being a Republican.
But having someone else's name on the primary ballot candidates cannot appear on the primary ballots of more than one party in a given year in Vermont can make winning the primary by write-in (and then declining the nomination leaving the party line on the November ballot blank) a lot tougher.
Wardinski's announcement on the Broadsides blog about politics, horse logging and just about everything in between prompted Progressive Martha Abbott to tell Burlington's Seven Days magazine it was important for her party to present an alternative to the Democrats but also sometimes cooperate with them.
"At the same time, we must not marginalize ourselves as many third parties have and as Mr. Wardinski and others would have us do by running in every race regardless of the stakes or the other candidates," Abbott e-mailed Seven Days.
Roll back the clock?
Speaking of Tom Salmon, the auditor and newly minted Republican said this week he thought the state should reduce maximum unemployment benefits from $425 a week to $300 to help the ailing unemployment trust fund.
That might be an odd call to make for someone who may be seeking the votes of Vermonters who are unemployed or are worried they might become so. But at least give him credit for consistency. Salmon backed up his statements to a committee studying what to do about the unemployment fund with a memo reiterating his statement.
"Giving the Vermont public adequate advanced notice that an average maximum benefit of $300 will go into effect July 1, 2010, or some predetermined date will be firm, fair and respectful given the data," Salmon wrote. "This is an advanced measure to deal with the post-stimulus cliff of revenue drop"
The Vermont Democratic Party responded by accusing Salmon of wanting to "roll back the clock" to 2000, the last time unemployment benefits were capped at $300 a week.
You know, 'cause nobody would want to roll back the clock to a time before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, nearly 10 percent unemployment across the country and the near collapse of the economy. That would be crazy.
Capitol Beat is a weekly political column by the Vermont Press Bureau, the Statehouse reporters for The Times Argus and the Rutland Herald.
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