Tag Archives: Zon Eastes

In the “Nobody Cares, But They Should” File: Jason Herron, Campaign Finance Scofflaw (Updated)

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Update 12/26: Turns out a complaint has already been filed about Herron’s campaign finance. See note below.

Hey, remember this guy? Jason Herron, ultraconservative from Guilford who ran as a Democrat in the August primary and lost to real Democrat Zon Eastes?

Well, Mr. Herron apparently checked out after his loss, because he has yet to file any campaign finance reports since August 1. And his last report constitutes an egregious violation of state law.

As of August 1, Herron had reported spending $7,565 and raising zero dollars. That’s right, he reported no donations to his campaign and did not identify the source of his cash.

After August 1, Herron filed three separate Mass Media expenditure reports: $500 to J and B’s Curbside Café and two identical filings reporting $2,229 spent at Staples for postcards and mailing. If you give him the benefit of the doubt for sloppy reporting, he spent $2,729 after August 1. If you take his filings at face value, which is how the law works, then he spent a total of $4,458 at Staples for a post-August 1 total of $4,958.

Which brings his total campaign spending to either $10,294 or $12,023. Which is a hell of a lot for a House primary contest.

And his fundraising remains at an officially reported zero.

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A Happy Little Primary Night Cash Fire

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Tuesday’s primary election turned out to be a snooze. The most interesting development was how much money was wasted trying to unseat a small number of Democratic incumbents. They all won, as far as I can tell.

Firmly atop the Futility Rankings is former TV anchor Stewart Ledbetter, who finished fourth in the race for three state Senate seats in the Chittenden Central district. He raised almost $60,000 and spent a bit under $40,000 (tentative). He “earned” 3,159 votes, which cost him and his well-heeled donors about $12.56 apiece. Bargain!

Elsewhere in the “beat the Democrats” game, House Ways & Means Chair Emilie Kornheiser brushed off a challenge from business-backed Dem Amanda Ellis-Thurber, while the Waterbury duo of Reps. Tom Stevens and Theresa Wood defeated “affordability” Dem Elizabeth Brown, who spent gobs of cash and didn’t really come close to pulling off an upset.

Two quick takeaways: If there’s an anti-tax revolution brewing in the hinterlands, it did not show itself in the results. At all. And those allegedly smart business leaders just squandered a whole lot of money trying to push the Democratic caucuses toward the center. They might have scored one small victory, as Danforth Pewter chief Bram Kleppner took a Democratic nomination for House in Burlington. But that’s about it.

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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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