Tag Archives: Sara Coffey

Vermont’s Campaign Finance System Is Useless, And That’s a Product of Deliberate Design

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Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas gave it the old college try. This year, after every campaign finance reporting deadline, she published lists of all candidates who failed to file as required by law. This was aimed at encouraging compliance, if only by the embarrassment of being publicly identified as a scofflaw.

It was a good idea, but it didn’t work. The proof? The most recent list of non-compliers, released after the December 15 deadline for Final Reports, was by far the longest of all the lists. Proof that avoidance of embarrassment meant nothing whatsoever to candidates for public office.

The list is actually three lists: Those who filed, those who filed an “Under Threshold” report (didn’t raise or spend $500 or more), and those who just let the deadline fly by. And yes, if your campaign had no reportable activity, you’re still required to officially attest to that fact.

Among statewide candidates, only two are in the failed-to-file category: Republican candidate for treasurer (and Republican National Commitee member) Joshua Bechhoefer and, um, incumbent Auditor Doug Hoffer. Oopsie.

It gets really embarrassing when you get to legislative candidates. The list of Senate scofflaws is almost as long as the list of those who complied. A total of 30 Senate candidates, including seven winners, did not file a Final Report. In the House, 105 candidates failed to file, including (by my count) 32 winners.

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Beware of Redpilled Zealots in Democratic Clothing

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I have to admit, I missed it at first glace. I was scanning the Secretary of State’s list of candidates for the Legislature, and my eyes just glossed right over a familiar name. To be fair, I was focused on Republican candidates and this guy has qualified for the August Democratic primary in the Windham-1 district.

Fair warning: He is not a Democrat. Not anywhere close.

This is Jason Herron, previously noted in this space as a stealth conservative — at the time, he was a candidate for Guilford Selectboard touting himself as a humble maple farmer who merely wanted more transparency in local government.

In reality, he is (as you see in the screenshot above) the Vermont state director for Convention of States Action, a far-right fantasy camp that wants to selectively rewrite the U.S. Constitution. The object of its desire: a Constitutional convention “restricted to proposing amendments that will impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit its power and jurisdiction, and impose term limits on its officials and members of Congress.”

Yeah, none of that pesky reproductive rights stuff or clarifying the Second Amendment or eliminating the Electoral College or clarifying the separation of church and state. Only approved topics will be allowed in this arena of free speech.

In an appearance on a COSA YouTube video, Herron said a Constitutional convention held on COSA terms is “the only way we’re going to save our country without shedding blood.”

Good to know he’s keeping a level head about all this.

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