Marriage Still Matters to GOP Vermont: US Senate Race 2022

 Marriage still matters to the Republican base, even in liberal Vermont

‘Ahead-scratcher’: Vermont’s GOP voters nominate a surprising slate of candidates

Even those who won Vermont’s Republican primary elections on Tuesday say they’re baffled by the results.

In the race for U.S. Senate, GOP voters rejected former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan, a moderate and institutional favorite, for Gerald Malloy, a Trump-aligned conservative. 

Christina Nolan was an out-lesbian, and she was endorsed by Mitch McConnell. She had two clear strikes against her as far as the Republican base is concerned.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night was Malloy’s defeat of Nolan, though a July poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center showed him with a slight lead. Malloy, a West Point graduate and 22-year Army veteran who moved to Vermont just two years ago, won close to 40% of the vote. Nolan, who picked up the endorsements of Gov. Phil Scott and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., garnered just 35%.

Vermont Governor Phil Scott is one of the most liberal Republicans in the GOP Governor's Association, probably more liberal than Massachusetts' own Charlie Baker.

Reached Thursday, Malloy struck a unifying tone, saying that moderates like Scott belong in his GOP.

“I see us as one party, and I see us as rallying together for this general election,” Malloy told VTDigger.

But his association with the party’s conservative wing suggests he is not quite a Phil Scott Republican. Which legislators does he admire? Malloy pointed to Rep. Art Peterson, R-Clarendon, and Rep. Vicki Strong, R-Albany, whose endorsement he earned.

“Just great Vermonters, great Americans, just doing the best for Vermont,” Malloy said. (He also cited President Abraham Lincoln, “the first Republican President,” as a favorite.)

The two representatives Malloy mentioned inhabit the outer edge of the GOP. Peterson made the rounds at Thayer’s anti-Critical Race Theory rallies and, in a House committee meeting, questioned whether systemic racism exists. Strong, meanwhile, is among the Legislature’s most outspoken opponents of abortion rights and has said she would not comply with mask and vaccine mandates.

I am surprised that there are Republicans in Vermont who still fight against abortion. I am certainly glad that members of the state legislature oppose Critical Racist Theory, too.

“I certainly seek to emulate how they perform for the state,” Malloy said.

That emulation might explain his success. Malloy cited his experience in business and in the military as key to his victory, but others suggested it was Nolan’s lack of conservative bonafides.

That lack of conservative credentials is the bigger deal. No question about it

“She refused to answer the question of who she voted for (for president),” said H. Brooke Paige, a regular on the Republican ballot who picked up nominations for attorney general, auditor, secretary of state and treasurer on Tuesday. “She started to blow off the debates and forums or whatever we were having.”

For once, an establishment candidate got crushed for ducking debates. That's the kind of thing we hope to see more of in future elections.

Paige said Nolan was notably absent at four events he attended. In the week leading up to the primary, Nolan’s failure to show up to a Vermont Republican Party economic forum in St. Albans drew the ire of fellow Senate candidate Myers Mermel, who picked up 17% of Tuesday’s vote and had throughout the race gone on the offensive against Nolan. His attacks against Nolan left Malloy safe above the fray.

“I was somewhat surprised to see Gerald Malloy beat out Christina Nolan. I attributed a lot of that to the third candidate, Myers Mermel, spending a lot of money and time bashing Christina,” said Benning, the Caledonia County senator who won the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. “I think Gerald Malloy took advantage of staying out of that.”

Asked about his decision to target Nolan, Mermel said it was a service to voters. “I believed it was the right thing for me to do to make sure that people knew the truth about the establishment candidate,” he told VTDigger.

But rather than his attacks, Mermel suggested, it was Nolan’s endorsements from McConnell and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that cost her with Vermonters, as did her outspoken willingness to disagree with her potential Republican colleagues in the U.S. Senate. “I had heard repeatedly from the people I spoke to that they didn't want to see a Republican like that get elected,” Mermel said.

(The Nolan campaign did not respond to an interview request on Thursday.)

While Malloy took hardline anti-abortion and anti-gun-reform stances, Nolan said she supported Roe v. Wade and red flag laws. She is also lesbian and has spoken in favor of marriage equality. On a night in which women dominated the Democratic ticket, not a single woman won statewide for the Republicans.

And here's the issue I want to focus on: "She ... has spoken in favor of marriage equality." That's a big dud with Republican voters still. In spite of the GOP political establishment's drive to run away from cultural issues, the GOP base wants the party leaders to support the natural family, stand up for natural marriage, and push back on the encroaching, destructive LGBT agenda.

Trick, Not Treat: Vermont Democrats Want Cap and Trade

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Vermont's Republican Governor Blocks All Tax Increases in Budget--First on Record

Now this is really amazing.

For the first time on record--in recent memory--the state of Vermont passed a budget which did not have a tax increase.

The legislation also negotiated for better management of the teachers' health insurance plans and placed in command more efficiencies.

This is what Republicans do, and this is what conservative governance looks like:

Greetings,

First and foremost, I’d like to thank you for your help and generosity throughout the last campaign. It’s because of your support that I’m writing to you now as Vermont’s 82nd Governor. It’s a role I’m proud and honored to serve in, and one that gives all of us tremendous opportunities to make Vermont stronger. While I’ve only been in office eight months, many of those opportunities are starting to come to fruition. As promised throughout the campaign, my administration is concentrated on growing the economy, making Vermont more affordable, and protecting the most vulnerable. Those three principles guide us in everything we do. To make good on that promise, I’m proud to have presented, fought for and signed a historic budget that does not raise a single tax or fee. This is the first time this has been done that we can find on record! But it didn’t come easy. Initially, the majority in the legislature  passed a budget that would have raised property taxes AND ignored my proposal to save millions of dollars by changing the way teachers’ health care benefits are handled. I vetoed that budget bill because I knew we could do better for all Vermonters. And we did! The final budget I signed on June 28 ensures property tax rates do not increase for the first time in recent memory, saves $13 million over the next two years by restructuring teachers’ health care benefit plans, and provides a path to achieve greater efficiency, and more savings, in the future. We are working to restore fiscal responsibility in Montpelier, and helping families get ahead, by insisting state spending doesn’t grow faster than the economy or wages. And I will continue to fight to make Vermont more affordable and run a state government which lives within its means. Governor Phil Scott (R-Vermont) In addition to a historic budget that doesn’t raise taxes or fees, we are also prioritizing investments in pro-growth areas like job training and secured a $35 million dollar housing package that will employ hundreds of workers and generate $50 million in wages in the construction of more than 500 housing units -- and help make homes more affordable for middle income households. My budget also invested in early care and learning, and higher education -- an important step toward a cradle-to-career continuum of learning that will attract more jobs and more working families who want to raise their children in the nation’s safest and healthiest state. We are also changing the culture in State Government by listening to those on the front lines, and we’re making some exciting headway in terms of innovating state government to make it more efficient, productive and valuable to you. During my first week in office, I issued three Executive Orders. The first created an Agency of Digital Services, a single entity to better manage state IT projects. The second combined the Lottery Commission and the Department of Liquor Control (the legislature slowed this merger, but I’m confident we’ll get this in 2018). The third order would have unified the Agency of Commerce and Community Development with the Department of Labor -- literally putting the people who help create jobs next to the people who help Vermonters find jobs. Unfortunately, this too was blocked by the legislature, but it’s an idea that continues to be discussed in the State House. Over the next several months, I will remain laser-focused on making state government work better for you. Every Tuesday morning when I convene my cabinet, I always remind them we’re public servants, we’re here to serve and follow through on our commitment to grow the economy, make Vermont more affordable  and protect the most vulnerable. And we’ll continue to think this way, because it’s what Vermonters deserve and expect from their state government. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish just 8 months into the job, but there is much more work to do. Everything I’ve proposed cannot happen overnight, which is why I need your help to ensure I have another term to get this work done. Can I count on you to donate $100, $250, $500, $1000 or any amount you are comfortable with up to $4,000? I can’t thank you enough for the support and encouragement you’ve shown me over the years. Please don’t hesitate to reach out; I’m always willing to listen. Sincerely, Phil Scott Governor Final Reflection Blue state Republicans can make a difference if they focus on basic issues. As long as they keep their promises to make key states affordable, to lower the costs of living and allow the voters to keep more of their money, then they have nothing to worry about!

Vermont Governor Phil Scott: Balanced Budgets, No Tax Increases

There's good news, even in uber-liberal Vermont with a center-left Republican Governor.

Let's hope that he rejects any notion of moving left on any other issue, all while standing his ground against liberal spending habits and wasteful governement expansionism.

Check out his latest press release:

A Foundation for Growth
by Governor Phil Scott

On my first day in office, I issued an executive order defining the top goals of my Administration: Growing the economy, making Vermont more affordable, and protecting the most vulnerable. We are laser-focused on these priorities and they guide us in everything we do.

That’s why we’ve concentrated on government modernization and efficiency, rethinking and revitalizing our approach to economic development, transitioning to a cradle-to-career education system that is the best in the nation, strengthening our response to the opioid epidemic, and making sure state spending isn’t growing faster than wages or the economy.

With this approach, and the help of the legislature in the session that recently ended, we succeeded in investing more in economic growth, including marketing Vermont as a place to do business, expanding small business development centers, and establishing tax credits that will support our growing aerospace sector and the forest products economy as well as the creation of new co-working and “maker” spaces that nurture small, innovative startup businesses.

To begin addressing the need for housing that working families can afford, we passed a $35 million housing bond that will create hundreds of new homes throughout the state, employ 1,000 workers, generate $50 million in wages in the construction phase and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional economic value over the next 20 years. We also made commonsense changes to support housing developments and downtown growth by simplifying permitting and increasing tax incentives for development – proven tools for expanding infrastructure and spurring growth.

I believe our education system can be one of our strongest tools for attracting more working families who want to raise their children in the nation’s safest and healthiest state. That’s why I proposed significantly increasing access to childcare, pre-school programs and higher education by redeploying ongoing savings in a K-12 system that sees declining student enrollment year-after-year. It’s also why I fought so hard to save up to $26 million each year from the transition to new health insurance plans for teachers, without asking them to pay more or reducing services to our children. 

Ultimately, we increased funding for the Child Care Financial Assistance Program by $2.5 million, and the Vermont State College system by $3 million to help stabilize tuition, and established a full-time focus on career and technical education at the Agency of Education.

To strengthen our response to the opioid epidemic, I created the Opioid Coordination Council, appointed a director of drug policy and prevention, and convened Vermont’s first statewide convention focused on growing the workforce to support opioid and substance misuse treatment.
We also took important steps toward modernizing state government with the creation of the Agency of Digital Services, which merges dozens of IT management functions that were previously spread across state government, and making government more efficient through our Program to Improve Vermont Outcomes Together (PIVOT) initiative, which has asked frontline state employees for ways to make our systems more efficient and easier to use.

Acting quickly and decisively, we upheld long-standing values with the passage of S.79, An act relating to freedom from compulsory collection of personal information. This legislation proactively protects our Constitutional rights, and defends the state against federal overreach by clearly prohibiting state agencies from sharing personal information for the purposes of creating a federal registry based on personal characteristics.

Perhaps most importantly, we achieved all of this without asking you to pay more.

For the first time in many years, state spending isn’t growing faster than our ability to pay for it. And, not a single piece of legislation that I signed created or raised taxes or fees. That means state government is doing its part to help families keep more of what they earn, and we did this while protecting essential services and the frontline workers who deliver them.

The path was sometimes challenging. For example, it took a veto to ensure that – for the first time in recent memory – the state budget didn’t raise any taxes or fees, including property taxes rates. We could have taken the easy path, but I believe Vermonters elected me to improve state government and the state’s economic trajectory. And we’re getting there, but there’s much more work to do.

Overall, this legislative session resulted in real progress and an important shift in our thinking – we have built a foundation for stronger growth. When I think about the opportunities ahead of us, I’m more committed than ever to rolling up my sleeves and building a stronger, more affordable and more prosperous Vermont. 

Paid for by the Vermont Republican Federal Elections Committee
Not authorized by any candidate or candidates committee.
www.vtgop.org

This email was sent to [arthurschaper@hotmail.com]arthurschaper@hotmail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.
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What the New England GOP is Doing (and what California Should and Should Not Do ...)

Foxes and Hounds offers some telling intel, and sound analysis on politics in California and in reference to events across the country.

Their take on what California Republicans can do to ensure a Republican governor gets elected in 2018 should give us some pause. Yes, anything is possible. In spite of this abortive Prop 14 which has shut down Republican chances in otherwise competitive seats.

Repeal Prop 14--that is a must.

Model for CA GOP Gov. May Be Found in New England

The California gubernatorial election is 22 months away but already the media is filled with stories about the coming campaign. Given the superiority in Democratic voter registration in this state it is assumed that a Democrat will succeed Jerry Brown in the corner office. Yet, for Republicans there may be hope when witnessing the success of GOP governors in another blue section of the country, New England.

For the record, I was chomping at the bit over the 2016 US Senate race as early as January 2015, and even a little sooner than that. After all, Barbara Boxer wasn't raising lots of money in 2014, and her campaign accounts were really low for a re-election bid in the most populous state in the union with expensive media markets.

I reached out to staffers in the CA GOP to see if Condoleeza Rice would run (she didn't; she didn't want to), and then a whole slew of candidates jumped into the race. One candidate connected with me two months before the primary, as well. I could not believe how disorganized the whole process had become. Democrats can put force competing candidates into a run and dwindle the numbers down to one.

Why can't Republicans do the same?

Of the six New England states, Republicans head four, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. By voter registration, four New England states are ranked in the top ten as the most Democratic states in the Union as of early last year with Massachusetts number one and Vermont number five. California was number six on the list.

There is hope. New England has been notoriously hostile to Republican politics for the last ten to twenty years. Yet today, four states have Republican governors. New Hampshire is a GOP trifecta right now, in fact, even though the state has a Democratic tinge in its federal representation.

Connecticut's state senate is split 50-50, and Maine's state senate is under GOP control, too.

The GOP model needs more attention than just who is sitting in the governor's mansion. Charlie Baker is a complete disappoint, a RINO who is more interested in placating rather than confronting liberal Democrats. The Massachusetts variety are particularly vicious and destructive to life and liberty on every level.

In a Washington Post column last month, James Hohmann attempted to discover how Republican governors captured these Democratic strongholds.

The Washington Post is not friendly to conservatives, and whether Republicans in the Northeast or California or any other Democratic stronghold like it or not, the Republican Party is the pro-life, pro-liberty, and pro-family party. Pro-individual success, too.

I am a little loath to follow any WaPo journalist's take on what would make the Republican Party successful anywhere in the country. Notice how savagely Hohmann denigrated Paul LePage, the Governor of Maine:

-- Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, is in a league of his own. He was catapulted into office amidst the tea party wave of 2010 and got reelected in 2014 with a plurality because an independent siphoned away Democratic votes. He’s polarizing and profoundly ideological. He’s also term limited and will be gone in two years.

The writer neglects to mention his respect for the Second Amendment, the expansion of concealed carry, comprehensive welfare reforms which have gotten tens of thousands off of welfare and back to work. His policies have given a reddish hue to an otherwise blue state. For the first time in two decades, a Republican has been elected to Congress for two terms.

LePage has shaped the culture to be more conservative, and his model should be the guiding light for Republicans in blue states. Of course, it is worth noting that LePage become governor in a five-way race in an off-year election.

Still, his win has been Maine's win, and will pave the way for future conservative victories in the Pine Tree State.

The Post’s Editorial Board, calling on him to resign and “seek help” this fall, outlined some of the more memorable illustrations of his “unhinged racism” and “wild-eyed ramblings.” Among other things, LePage declared in October that a Trump presidency is necessary because he will exercise “authoritarian power” to pull us back from “slipping into anarchy.”

The Washington Post editorial board is an elitist fraud. Once again, we should take WaPo Hate with a grain of salt.

Still, what can we learn from the four New England Republican governors ascent for California Republican interests?

Are there lessons for California?

Phil Scott

Vermont elected Phil Scott who told Hohmann he got involved in politics because the state was an unfriendly place to do business. That’s a theme that could resonate in California. Scott is a fiscal conservative. “But not unlike most Republicans in the Northeast, I’m probably more on the left of center from a social standpoint.”

Like Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (another success story which the Washington Post chose to ignore), Republicans in blue states need to focus on the basic issues which resonate with everyone. Most working people ... are not working right now. That has to stop. This perversion of statewide economies must be overturned, and only a Republican will take steps to do that in California.

Hopefully.

California Republicans have been battling internally for years on where to draw the line on social issues.

Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker enjoys a 70-percent-approval rating. Hohmann writes: “He’s viewed as a pragmatist and admired for his effective managerial abilities, even though many of his priorities have been blocked by liberals in the legislature.”

Charlie Baker, Republican Faker

Baker has gone along with much of the Democratic program, including transgenderism as a civil right instead of a mental disorder (which it is.) This legislation is anti-free market, too, since it invites more lawsuits, regulations, and fees.

The argument about fiscal v. social is a dead on arrival distraction from the regressive left. Why do we care how they view the world anyway?

Besides ...

With Democrats overwhelmingly controlling the Massachusetts State House, Baker is seen as a check on overreach. Baker said, “The fiscal discipline issue is for real, and so is the ability to be part of the constructive friction that people like to see.” Politics benefits from competition the same way everything else does. Most people think competition is a good thing and creates an urgency and a tension that works for the so-called consumer, which in this case is the taxpayer or the person who relies on government.”

Massachusetts and Vermont have overwhelming Democratic legislatures. Instead of accommodating the culture, though, Republicans need to shape the culture and make it more in line with constitutional principles and sound governance.

The last thing that California needs is another governor who will continue the leftward lurching of the state of California. We need someone who will stop this madness and  make California great again. 

There has been talk that San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer fits the mold associated with the successful GOP governors in heavily Democratic states. Whether he runs or not is a question.

Kevin Faulconer has gotten mixed reviews from partisans. I am not sure that he will command the open respect from all segments of the state which a candidate for Govenror will need. Can he resonate with the Central Valley as well as with Los Angeles and Orange Counties? Will he be the team player that we need?

Reflection

There are some things that California Republicans can learn from the four New England governors.

1. Message that appeals to all voters in the state.
2. Focus on ethics and quality of life issues
3. Make school choice, privacy, fiscal discipline key platforms in the campaign

It's also important to look at the legislatures which will be facing these four governors.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has the best chances to reshape the culture in his state. Let's hope that the legislature takes a lead on many issues, particularly right-to-work and other economy an liberty enhancing issues.

Whoever throws the hat into the ring for Governor, they would best following the Larry Hogan model, with a staunch fiscal, pro-economic growth message, without touching on divisive cultural issues, but also without alienating the Republican base.