It’s pretty obvious to any Vermont Political Observer, capitalized or otherwise, that the skids are being heavily greased for Treasurer Mike Pieciak to be the next Democratic nominee for governor. But I’d like to point out a small but telling piece of evidence that should not go unremarked upon.

Last week the Vermont Bar Association held a meeting in Manchester, and the occasion was marked by near-universal castigation of the Trump administration’s assault on the legal system (as reported, after the fact, by VTDigger). Members unanimously approved a statement affirming their support for the rule of law. In addition, Digger reports, more than 200 Vermont attorneys and elected officials have signed a statement “supporting the independence of the judiciary and outlining 15 instances of the current administration allegedly disregarding the rule of law.” The statement also announces a rally for lawyers opposed to Trump’s trample on May 3 in Burlington.

Prominent people quoted in the article include Reiber, Attorney General Charity Clark, Bar Association board president (and former deputy AG) Josh Diamond, former assistant U.S. Attorney Scott McGee, Bennington attorney David Silver, and his daughter, attorney* Natalie Silver…

… and Treasurer Mike Pieciak.

Okay, Pieciak is, in fact, a member of the Bar, so technically he qualifies. But he hasn’t been an active attorney since February 2014, when he took a position in the Peter Shumlin administration. He’s been in state government, not as an attorney, ever since.

*Correction: Silver is not an attorney. She is a law school graduate awaiting her law license.

The explanation for Pieciak’s presence can be found in the 13th paragraph of the Digger piece, which includes an incomplete and highly misleading identifier:

Natalie Silver, a Burlington-based attorney law school graduate awaiting her law license* and recent political operative who helped to draft the statement and organize the rally, said it is notable that Vermont’s legal community is coming together to voice support for “non-partisan core values.”

*Digger originally referred to Silver as an attorney, and later corrected it. I’m following suit.

Well, I suppose Pieciak is a member of “Vermont’s legal community,” but he isn’t exactly an active one.

Please note that Silver is described, oddly, as a “recent political operative.” That is incorrect, as any devoted reader of This Here Blog (Hi, Mom!) could tell you. She is still a political operative in the present tense. After managing U.S. Rep. Becca Balint’s two campaigns for Congress, she became an advisor to Mike Pieciak, a position she still holds. I don’t know how much she’s getting paid or if it’s entirely pro bono at this point, but she’s definitely a prominent member of Team Mikey. Digger dropped that ball.

And Silver “helped to draft the statement and organize the rally” at which, I’m sure, Pieciak will be a featured speaker.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this. Silver is just doing her job and doing it quite well, as is her wont. This is only the latest instance of Mike Pieciak showing up whenever and wherever some free publicity might be had. Sometimes it’s relevant to his job ( his Baby Bonds plan, his medical debt relief proposal, a recent puff piece in Seven Days about that evergreen feature topic, the Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property Division), sometimes it’s arguable (Pieciak’s task force on “the changing landscape at the federal level” and its well-publicized town halls), and sometimes it’s really not (his prominent inclusion in this Bar Association deal, his headlining of events for Emerge Vermont, the organization dedicated to training and advancing women in Democratic politics, or perhaps we should say “women and Mike Pieciak.”)

(It’ll be interesting to see how Emerge would handle a potential future gubernatorial primary involving, say, Pieciak, Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas, AG Charity Clark, and former lieutenant governor Molly Gray. Studied neutrality, I suspect.)

To paraphrase the late great Mojo Nixon, Pieciak is everywhere, Pieciak is everything, Pieciak is everybody, Pieciak is still the king.

Or at least the crown prince, the king in waiting.

Postscript. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, Pieciak’s long, distinguished legal career lasted, um, less than three years. He was admitted to the bar in 2011 and joined top Burlington law firm Downs Rachlin and Martin; he took time away from lawyerin’ to manage Bill Sorrell’s last re-election campaign as attorney general in 2012; then he took off for New York City to work on mergers and acquisitions for Skadden Arps, the prominent law firm that waved the white flag under pressure from Trump. (Perhaps someone will ask him about his former employer’s craven surrender.) After a year and change in the big city, Pieciak joined the Shumlin administration. That’s his entire legal career.