Tag Archives: Bram Kranichfeld

The Republicans Choose a Candidate for Chittenden State’s Attorney Who Doesn’t Want the Job

Leave a reply

This is a much younger Jace Laquerre (age 17 at the time), seen here with his beau ideal during the 2016 Republican convention. As he said at the time, “I got involved in politics through Senator Rand Paul, who inspired me to get involved through his principles of liberty and limited government.” At the time, Laquerre boasted of his involvement in “Young Americans for Liberty, Students for Life and the NRA.”

Fast forward to 2026, and Laquerre, now in his late 20s and sporting a J.D. Vance-style close-cropped beard, has just been chosen by the Chittenden County Republicans to run against incumbent Democratic State’s Attorney Sarah Fair George. This, despite the fact that (1) he’s not an attorney, and (2) he doesn’t actually want the job. (He is, according to his LinkedIn page, a software engineer. Something something relevant skills and experience.)

See, the Republicans didn’t field a candidate for the position. George’s Democratic primary opponent Bram Kranichfeld won the Republican nomination thanks to write-in votes from Republican voters who failed to heed (or misunderstood) Gov. Phil Scott’s advice to vote for Kranichfeld in the Democratic primary in order to defeat George. Kranichfeld then declined the “honor” of the Republican nomination, which allowed the county Republican committee to name anyone else as a replacement.

Anyone, it would seem. Including someone who isn’t qualified and, need I repeat myself, doesn’t want the job.

Continue reading →

Phil Scott Presses Thumb Firmly on the Partisan Scale

3 Replies

Here’s a screenshot from a recent hostage video political message posted on Gov. Phil Scott’s non-governmental Facebook account. And if there was any doubt about whether Scott is first and foremost a political animal, this video should remove it entirely.

The video was posted on August 6, five days before the primary, and it’s a brazen invitation for Republicans to vote in the Democratic primary. Specifically, Scott wanted Republican voters to tip the scales in the primaries for Chittenden County State’s Attorney and Sheriff. He openly supported Bram Kranichfeld’s bid to unseat incumbent Sarah Fair George (and let’s not forget that she would never have been chief county prosecutor if not for the fact that Scott himself appointed her, pause for ironic laughter), and incumbent Sheriff Dan Gamelin over challenger Kevin Bloom.

This is beyond the pale. It’s blatant meddling in Democratic Party affairs. I can’t say I’m ever surprised anymore at what our media fails to cover because there’s so goddamn much they don’t cover, but this ought to have been a big story before primary day. It should still be a big story.

Continue reading →

Scott Admin Does Blatantly Political Thing and Accuses His Opponents of Playing Politics, Part Eleventy-Billion

5 Replies

If this wasn’t reported as an in-kind donation to the Bram Kranichfeld campaign, it’s only because the dollars-and-cents value was incalculable. Last week, out of nowhere, and without extending the courtesy of informing the mayor of Vermont’s largest and most important city, the Scott administration dispatched the Vermont State Police to patrol the allegedly mean streets of Burlington.

Scott spokesperson Amanda Wheeler had the unmitigated gall to provide this comment to VTDigger: “This is nothing more than the Governor wanting to make sure Burlington is safe for residents and visitors, despite others framing this as a political issue.”

Oh, come ON. Don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

As is often the case, the governor is the one who’s playing politics and, like a certain orange-skinned chief executive, accusing his political rivals of the very thing he’s engaging in. I think they call that “deflection.”

In case you think I’m exaggerating, let’s look at the course of events.

Continue reading →

So Who’s Spending It, and Where’s It Going?

2 Replies

While us campaign finance sickos breathlessly await the August 1 filing deadline, we can occupy a bit of our time by tracking the mass media buys reported since July 1. There are quite a few, in fact.

Explainer for those who need it: Whenever a candidate spends $500 or more on mass media (radio, TV, digital ads, printing, mailing, etc.), they must report it to the Secretary of State’s office within a couple of days, a rule often honored more in the breach than the observance.

Can you guess where the most money was spent on mass media this month? That’s right, it’s the Democratic race for lieutenant governor by a country mile. Ryan Mclaren, last seen trailing badly in the polls, poured $125,100 into TV ad buys conducted by Georgia-based Canal Partners Media. Apparent front-runner Molly Gray has spent $112,918 on TV ad buys done by Virginia-based Screen Strategies Media and another $26,537 on postcard mailings by Berlin Rosen LLC of New York for a grand total of $168,135.

Couldn’t help noticing as I scanned all these reports that virtually all statewide candidates and some legislative hopefuls are contracting their printing and media buys out of state. I guess the big firms know what they’re doing, but home cooking seems to be a thing of the past.

Anyway, McLaren and Gray have combined to spend almost $300,000 on a non-gubernatorial primary election. That’s got to be an all-time record. If it’s not, make sure to let me know in the Comments.

Whatever, it’s a fuck-ton of money for a bucket of warm piss, and a further indication that incumbent Republican John Rodgers is extremely vulnerable; both Democrats must feel like the primary is their biggest hurdle.

Continue reading →

Bring Me the Head of Sarah Fair George

7 Replies

Well, they’re at it again. They’re going after Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah Fair George, who will face a contested Democratic primary for the second straight campaign.

Or should I say, in the words of the Vermont Daily Chronicle, “controversial, George Soros-backed incumbent” Sarah Fair George? So Guy, can you cite any specific support from Soros, or could you simply not resist tootling one of your favorite dog whistles?

Sorry, digression is my jam. Last time around, in 2022, the “Get Sarah” forces did a faceplant, as George beat well-funded challenger ($62,000 for a county-level primary????) Ted Kenney by almost a two-to-one margin. This time, former Burlington city councilor Bram Kranichfeld is stepping into the hypothetical breach. He brings a softer edge to the tough-on-crime message that didn’t work for Kenney, but the fundamental thesis is the same: George’s progressive policies are to blame for the perception of rising lawlessness in the Queen City.

I fully expect Kranichfeld will receive generous support from the Barons of Burlington, and will benefit from every breathless bit of crime coverage between now and primary day. Will it make any difference? I expect not, to be honest.

Continue reading →

The Empire Strikes Back?

Leave a reply

Well, that [seemingly] came out of nowhere.

Ted Kenney, an attorney from Williston, told VTDigger he’s thinking about a primary challenge to incumbent Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah Fair George.

Under normal circumstances, this could be labeled “quixotic” but without the raffish charm of the original Quixote. Primarying an incumbent in a race that few people pay any attention to?

Why bother?

Well, I think I know why.

I think he thinks there’s a substantial constituency who prefer a more traditional approach to the office instead of George’s pioneering progressivism. And he may well be right, at least in terms of the power brokers and royal families and business-class donors in the county party.

Kenney’s run, if he makes one, is of a piece with Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger’s consistent pro-police stance — and whatever touched off the departure of Tyeastia Green, the first director of the Burlington Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Department (REIB) and the resignation of three of the REIB’s four managers.

If you’d like details about Weinberger’s law-n-order policies, click on the first link. Mark Hughes of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance runs down the ways that Weinberger — once he was safely re-elected with a plurality of the votes in a race against two progressive challengers — laid down the velvet glove in favor of an iron fist.

And he keeps waving the bloody flag, depicting the Queen City as a lawless wasteland whose handful of police officers dare not walk the streets. If Miro thinks that’s smart politics, is it any wonder that Kenney believes he could beat George by running to her right?

Continue reading →