Daily Archives: July 27, 2026

Fair Warning: The Cow Lady is Back

I guess Andrea Murray wasn’t discouraged by a state Senate campaign that, in the Republican wave year of 2024, saw her finish a distant fourth in the deep-blue Windsor district — and blow a big hole in her family’s bank account because she lavishly self-funded her own campaign. Much of her money was spent on two different out-of-state consultancies that shamelessly ripped her off did her no favors at all. Her investment paid the tiniest of dividends; she finished less than two percentage points ahead of two Republicans who barely campaigned at all. (The above screenshot was taken from a two-minute campaign video lavishly produced by one of those consultancies.)

Also, she regularly and wildly flouted campaign finance reporting laws, a practice she has carried forward into 2026. As noted previously, she missed the March 15 and July 1 deadlines despite spending at least some money on Vermont Daily Chronicle ads, a wasteful practice since the vast majority of VDC readers live outside Windsor County. One could argue that the ads could connect her to the wider conservative donor class, except she has yet to attract more than a handful of donors outside her own pocket.

Well, folks, on July 26 she filed both of this year’s reports at once plus the report that was due on July 1 of last year. And there are only five days to go before the next deadline. Great. We’ll probably see her August 1 report sometime in October. Too bad there are no penalties for late filing, thanks to the Legislature’s self-dealing on campaign finance issues.

Anyway, a look at her latest reports shows that she’s not doing anything different from two years ago. Still running in a district that hasn’t elected a Republican to the state Senate since 1994, still pouring her own money into a certain-to-lose campaign, still attracting little money from the rest of the human race.

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Without Comment: A Note from a Reader

I received this in the form of a comment on my recent post about Brenda Siegel. I don’t have time to dig into this right now, but it seems very timely so I’m elevating it for your consideration. I will say, this kind of thing would be absolutely in line with Scott administration policy on homelessness. They have consistently fought to minimize cost with no particular concern for the human toll wreaked on the unsheltered. Act 143 seemed like a pretty good idea for a new emergency housing program; I would not be surprised in the least if the administration is trying to undercut it.

Dear John —

Today is the final day for public comments on DCF’s draft rules on Act 143. I don’t know if you have seen the ACLU’s take on these rules, but they rules essentially ignore both the letter and spirit of the law, regardless of what the legislature passed and the governor signed. They are essentially negating the law and creating their own program. …The DCF gave only a week for public comment so advocates are scrambling to meet today’s deadline.

If you would like to make a public comment, the email address is: AHS.DCFVHRCPublicComments@vermont.gov