August 1 was another campaign finance deadline, the last before our August 13 state primary. As usual, there was plenty of interesting stuff to be found. And as usual, there was a dearth of coverage in our sadly diminished media ecosystem. VTDigger waited a few days to put together a solid campaign finance database helmed by its longtime (by Digger standards) data reporter Erin Petenko. But any effort, by anyone, to identify trends or develop insights? Haven’t seen any.

Meanwhile, those who follow me on Elon’s Hellscape know why I’m late to the party. After doing a fair bit of spadework around the deadline, I came down with Covid. It was a pretty severe case for a few days and I’m still on the mend, but I feel able to put words on the screen for the first time since last Thursday.

Anyway, got some things to say. Let’s do the toplines first and then get to the details.

• While the vast majority of candidates have trouble scratching a few bucks together, there are a few who have more money than they know what to do with. The primary’s one week away, early voting as been going on for roughly a month, and they’re sitting on large quantities of unspent cash.
• Many of these hopefuls have been generously funded by a cadre of Burlington-area business types, who may look at their investments post-primary and despair at the improvidence of their strategery.
• Two candidates got a rocket strapped to their backs by those business leaders in July. John Rodgers, running for lieutenant governor, and Rep. Pat Brennan, running for state Senate. They went from near zero on July 1 to huge, nigh unspendable hauls on August 1. Congrats, I guess?
• Gov. Phil Scott’s campaign has far outstripped Democrat Esther Charlestin. Why his people are bothering to beat the bushes, I don’t know. I remain convinced that he’d be better advised to mothball his campaign and start a PAC — or a Super PAC — and spread his influence around.
• The oddities around Thomas Renner’s campaign for lieutenant governor continue to proliferate. His fundraising slowed to a trickle in July, but he spent very little and has a sizeable unspent reserve. I still don’t know what his campaign is about. Or who’s running it, for that matter.

Okay, let’s run down the candidates who’ve raised more than they can spend, at least pre-primary. Dem-turned-Republican LG candidate John Rodgers has raised $44,950, all of it in July, and spent $24,469. Democrat Thomas Renner has raised more than $48,000 and spent only $14,137, including $5,741 in July. He’s sitting on a pile of cash and he’s in a longshot bid to unseat incumbent David Zuckerman. I mean, what the hell?

Retired TV dude Stewart Ledbetter is closing in on the $60,000 mark in his bid for a Chittenden Central Senate seat, and spent a little over half of that. The primary is the whole enchilada in ChitCent, so why not spend even more? Maybe there’s just no way to spend that much money in legislative races that don’t involve a TV blitz because you’d be wasting so much of your investment on viewers outside the district. Further evidence: Despite facing a real primary threat, the two incumbent Senators in Ledbetter’s crosshairs have significantly underspent their resources: Martine Gulick (raised $22,536, spent $7,465) and Tanya Vyhovsky (raised $18,574, spent $5,581).

Amanda Ellis-Thurber, who’s challenging Rep. Emilie Kornheiser in the Democratic primary with backing from Brattleboro area business types, has raised $13,049 and spent $7,117. She’s left a lot of money on the table, even as Kornheiser has outraised and outspent her. It might work out for Ellis-Thurber, but it seems unlikely.

Rep. Scott Beck, running for Senate, continues to rake in the bucks. He’s nearing the $50,000 mark, which is ridiculous for a non-Chittenden seat. He has spent less than $10,000. Now, he’s focused on the general election, so he’s got time. But what exactly is he going to spend all that money on? Ads in the Caledonian-Record? A daily postcard to every voting household from now till November? Enough roadside signs to make Lady Bird Johnson roll over in her grave? Whatever the strategy, he might be able to crush likely Democratic candidate Amanda Cochrane under an avalanche of cash; she’s raised a respectable $16,369 and already spent more than half of that. She would enter the fall campaign, assuming she wins the primary, at a huge financial disadvantage.

Hey. here’s someone who’s managed to spend a pile. Elizabeth Brown, centrist Democratic challenger to Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood in Waterbury, has raised more than $22,000, a ridiculous figure for a House race anywhere in Vermont, and has spent almost all of it. I’m not sure how wisely; she has some of the most uninspiring, generic yard signs I’ve ever seen, and she spent $3,500 for online ads through Wisconsin-based Driven Marketing Solutions (note cheesy homepage drone animation), which does not normally do business in the political space. (The incumbents stepped up their pre-primary fundraising to the tune of just below $10,000 (Stevens) and a bit more than $11,000 (Wood) but neither has spent significantly. Wood, in fact, reported total spending of $536 for the entire campaign to date. She’s either very confident or she’s out of practice with facing competition.

Boy, this is a long one, eh? But there’s more to cover.

I”ve got to adress these business types who are boosting a select handful of Republicans and centrist Democrats, and are almost certainly wasting a lot of their money. In July they added John Rodgers and Pat Brennan to their A-list, joining Beck, Ledbetter, and Brown. The Biz Boys also tossed tens of thousands into the House campaigns of Rep. Michael Morgan and former rep. Leland Morgan, who each raised about $10,000 in July from the likes of Bruce Lisman, Scot Boardman, Bove Brothers, Bissonette Properties, C.B. Properties, Gardner and Eliot Orton, and Wills Two LLC. Neither Morgan tallied a single gift under $100.

Look, if Phil Scott can’t be bothered to be the figurehead for a PAC or Super PAC, then why don’t these business leaders get their shit together and do it themselves? If they’re happy to throw tens of thousands into a handful of races and see a lot of money unused or wasted, then why the hell not organize and strategize? Make strategic investments across the board. Work in some candidate training and recruitment to bypass the VTGOP’s pathetic and ill-conceived efforts. It’s just so damn obvious. And it’s looking like an opportunity squandered, when there’s some anti-tax sentiment to be capitalized on.

Speaking of the governor, he raised an unexceptional (by historic standards) yet completely unnecessary (in current context) $26,755 in July for a campaign total of $152,802. (And don’t forget his $332K surplus from previous lopsided campaigns.) Charlestin, meanwhile, raised an uninspiring $3,266 in July, bringing her campaign total to $16,632. She has spent $2,500 more than she’s brought in, so she would enter the fall campaign in the red against an extremely popular incumbent with a half a million in the bank. That is, if she manages to win the Democratic primary against little-known stealth Republican Peter Duval, which I no longer consider a sure thing.

Scott’s biggest July spend was another $20,000 to D.C.-based Battleground Strategies for “online advertising.” Staffing expenditures were paid to PayData Payroll Services, so no information is available about who’s getting paid or who’s running Scott’s campaign, which is the easiest job in Vermont politics. (Knowing who’s managing which campaigns is about as inside baseball as you can get, but it can be informing — as when you have two longtime Democratic operatives, one a sitting county party chair, managing Ledbetter’s bid to oust an incumbent Democratic Senator.) (Those dudes billed Ledbetter another $11,659 in July for handling postcard mailings, newspaper ads, and even some TV time. Hey, if you’re a lamprey, you’ve got to attach yourself to the biggest fish you can find and suck as hard as you can for as long as the host will tolerate it.)

Okay, it’s Renner time. Winooski Deputy Mayor and member of the Leahy and Balint orbits Thomas Renner launched his bid to unseat Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman at almost the last minute. A forceful, focused effort was called for. We’ve gotten the polar opposite of that: Not enough fundraising, not nearly as much spending as he could afford, just seemingly meandering toward August 13. I can’t say he’s not trying, but it sure looks like he’s not trying. His biggest spend in July was $2,500 for access to the Vermont Democratic Party’s invaluable voter database. His second biggest? $314.75 for “Meals” at Ciao Popolo in Bellows Falls. Again, what the actual hell? He also spent a measly $250 for Facebook ads. HE DID NOT MAKE ANY MASS MEDIA EXPENDITURES IN THE MONTH OF JULY. This is just unbelievable.

Finally, he lists no expenditures for staff. While his campaign certainly bears the hallmarks of an amateur DIY operation, it’s difficult to believe he hasn’t had any professional guidance. Makes me wonder who’s pulling the strings and what their game is. It’s worthy of note that he has chosen not to reveal any payments to staff.

I’ve hit the main points, so you’d be forgiven for checking out right now. But I do have some fascinating odds, ends, and tidbits I’d like to mention on my way out.

Potential campaign finance violation: Ultraconservative Jason Herron, running as a Democrat for House in Vernon, has reported spending nearly $8,000 on his campaign, but is still reporting zero donations. He didn’t list any contributions from self or family, which is a standard question on campaign finance reports. Where is his money coming from?

Questionable donation of the month: NEK House candidate David Kelly received $1,000 from the Vermont Wildlife Coalition. Kelley is listed as vice chair of the Coalition’s Board. Seems a little bit conflicty, no?

Fabulously outré campaign donation of the month: Far-right weirdo Joe Gervais, running for Senate in Bennington County, received $1,500 from Anne MacLaurin of Manchester Center. Ms. MacLaurin and her husband are from Scotland, and they’ve gotten some press for commissioning a very beautiful and historically significant ceiling mural in their Manch manse, which they have dubbed “Balquidder.” I think that’s a reference to the Scottish town of Balquhidder, a small place with deep historical resonance and personal ties to the MacLaurins. Here’s a photo of the ceiling. It’s quite fetching and speaks of very deep MacLaurinian pockets.

A few more bits. The dearly departed TJ Donovan, last seen going a-shilling for the ethically questionable gaming outfit Roblox in the spring of 2022, still has an active campaign account with close to $300,000 in it. His only signifcant spend in July was a $1,000 consultancy fee to recently married Democratic operative Sam Donnelly. I’d love to know (a) why TJ is holding on to so much cash and (b) what in the world he’s paying Donnelly to do. Could there be a comeback in the works? Things that make you say hmm.

Meanwhile, his successor Charity Clark and Treasurer Mike Pieciak are following in the grand tradition of safe Democratic incumbent statewides amassing big war chests* for no apparent reason barring a future run for higher office, ha ha ha. Pieciak raised another $31,252 last month for a campaign total of $243,562 and has somehow managed to spend $113,434 when his only competition is a completely unknown Republican who filed a “No Activity Report” on July 1 and didn’t even bother with that formality this time. Pieciak is paying one Peter Trombley handsomely to act as his campaign manager. Trombley was also [checks notes] a staffer for U.S. Rep. Becca Balint until he signed on with Pieciak and is listed as an employee of the white-hat Necrason Group lobbying firm. Clark has been less of a busy beaver, but she has raised a total of $91,028 and spent $38,405 despite having no opposition besides the Mad Hatter of #vtpoli, H. Brooke Paige.

*Except Doug Hoffer

Finally, FINALLY, the Glimmer Twins of #vtpoli, Rep. Seth Bongartz and deputy Bennington County State’s Attorney Rob Plunkett. In the July mass media filings, Bongartz reported spending a couple thou-plus on brochures touting both of their campaigns. Bongartz is on the primary ballot; Plunkett is not, as he entered the race after the death of Dick Sears, who remains on the ballot. Plunkett is a write-in, and he’s got the full backing of Bongartz.

The August reports reveal a tightly-wound double helix of a campaign. Plunkett reported raising $4,150, half of it from people named Bongartz. All expenses reported by Plunkett are coordinated efforts with Bongartz: brochures, postcards, postage, newspaper ads and yard signs. Definitely a team effort in chummy ol’ Bennington.

Whew. That’s maybe the longest blogpost I’ve ever written, and I’m not known for brevity. Thanks for sticking around to those who did. See you in a bit.