Vermont Megathread

[Roll Roons]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

[KaiserDave]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

Oooooooo!!!!!

Now this is news! This is gonna be interesting. Thank you for telling us.

I think I support Timothy Ashe still, but Phil's coattails could help Milne, although in the past Phil hasn't had much in the way of coattails.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I know zuckerman has weird views on vaccines but I defineitly think that I would vote for him over scott who vetoed a minimum wage increase and marijuana legalization his views on vaccines are not even that bad hes not a flat out anti vaxxer read this from wikipedia

Zuckerman is critical of the philosophy of mandatory vaccinations.[25][26] He has said that he is skeptical about the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's position on vaccines due to its purported connections to the pharmaceutical industry, but believes the science of vaccination is sound.[25] He said that he believed that most people should vaccinate their children, but believes in exemptions for medical or religious reasons.[27] He said that some of his constituents had said that vaccines gave their children allergic reactions.[27] He has said that his own daughter is vaccinated.[25]

his opposition to vaccines is more of a personal freedom thing the only thing that suses me out about it is him saying that it gave some of constituents children allergic reactions  but besides that his position isn't that bad and the issue of Marijuana legalization and the minimum wage is like 10 times more important to me

Zuckerman has made improvements and being against mandatory vaccination is arguably not the same thing as being anti-vaxx, but back in 2015 he was harping on about the science not being proven. Promoting these views and thereby indirectly encouraging people to avoid vaccination was at least irresponsible, and this sort of past transgression is harder to overlook in the time of COVID-19.

[KaiserDave]

Also, I would actually like to discuss this

I'm not sarcastic when I say, if you think Phil Scott is right wing (or a right wing Republican), please tell me how.

He vetoed a minimum wage increase, paid family leave, and legal marijuana.

1. The minimum wage goes up every year in Vermont, he vetoed a measure to increase that rate, and it makes sense. The wage is high, but he's tempering it to adjust for the cost and growth rate. It's sound economics. He supports higher wages, and wages have gone up.

2. He has an alternative plan for family leave, and you can debate the merits of it, but it's hardly right wing.

3. He vetoed one bill, and signed another one that he and the legislature agreed on. It's compromise and progress.


To suggest that he's right wing, much less a right wing Republican is patently false

[Figueira]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

[Not Me, Us]

Also, I would actually like to discuss this

I'm not sarcastic when I say, if you think Phil Scott is right wing (or a right wing Republican), please tell me how.

He vetoed a minimum wage increase, paid family leave, and legal marijuana.

1. The minimum wage goes up every year in Vermont, he vetoed a measure to increase that rate, and it makes sense. The wage is high, but he's tempering it to adjust for the cost and growth rate. It's sound economics. He supports higher wages, and wages have gone up.

2. He has an alternative plan for family leave, and you can debate the merits of it, but it's hardly right wing.

3. He vetoed one bill, and signed another one that he and the legislature agreed on. It's compromise and progress.


To suggest that he's right wing, much less a right wing Republican is patently false

This is really all irrelevant. Whether or not you think Scott is a good governor, a Democrat would have been a better one. There is no reason to ever vote for a Republican, unless the Democrat is George Wallace or something.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Also, I would actually like to discuss this

I'm not sarcastic when I say, if you think Phil Scott is right wing (or a right wing Republican), please tell me how.

He vetoed a minimum wage increase, paid family leave, and legal marijuana.

1. The minimum wage goes up every year in Vermont, he vetoed a measure to increase that rate, and it makes sense. The wage is high, but he's tempering it to adjust for the cost and growth rate. It's sound economics. He supports higher wages, and wages have gone up.

2. He has an alternative plan for family leave, and you can debate the merits of it, but it's hardly right wing.

3. He vetoed one bill, and signed another one that he and the legislature agreed on. It's compromise and progress.


To suggest that he's right wing, much less a right wing Republican is patently false

This is really all irrelevant. Whether or not you think Scott is a good governor, a Democrat would have been a better one. There is no reason to ever vote for a Republican, unless the Democrat is George Wallace or something.

Tbf I can think of plenty of Democrats with a record worse than Phil Scott's, including current Democratic Governors. They're a minority for sure, but even amongst those ideologically closer to my preferences, there are several corrupt Govs. and others that are downright incompetent. In that respect, Scott has served better as a centre-right shepherd of the liberal legislature's policies than e.g. Gina Raimondo or JB Pritzker.

[KaiserDave]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

[KaiserDave]

Also, I would actually like to discuss this

I'm not sarcastic when I say, if you think Phil Scott is right wing (or a right wing Republican), please tell me how.

He vetoed a minimum wage increase, paid family leave, and legal marijuana.

1. The minimum wage goes up every year in Vermont, he vetoed a measure to increase that rate, and it makes sense. The wage is high, but he's tempering it to adjust for the cost and growth rate. It's sound economics. He supports higher wages, and wages have gone up.

2. He has an alternative plan for family leave, and you can debate the merits of it, but it's hardly right wing.

3. He vetoed one bill, and signed another one that he and the legislature agreed on. It's compromise and progress.


To suggest that he's right wing, much less a right wing Republican is patently false

This is really all irrelevant. Whether or not you think Scott is a good governor, a Democrat would have been a better one. There is no reason to ever vote for a Republican, unless the Democrat is George Wallace or something.

Facts are hardly irrelevant. Phil Scott is a good governor who has competently led the state through its greatest crisis since the Great Depression.

I'm not going to blindly vote blue, and that kind of political tribalism is not a good idea. And I'm not a Moderate Hero (TM) Democrat, I'm a liberal Social Democrat but I can see what's up and what's not.

[Figueira]

Upon reading further, Scott's position on climate change is roughly equivalent to Zuckerman's position on vaccines: they both acknowledge the science after questioning it within the past five years (vaccines work, and humans are causing climate change) but oppose efforts to do anything about it (getting rid of philosophical and religious exemptions in Zuckerman's case, and doing literally anything about climate change in Scott's case).

Fortunately, there is a better option: https://www.rebeccaholcombe.com/

[President Biden Democrat]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

Scott is a moderate Republican, sensible and honest leader. Phil is socially liberal, a climate activist, fiscally moderate and an amazing governor. Phil also increased the earned income tax credit by three percent. He will win by 10 points or more in November.

GO PHIL!

[Figueira]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

Scott is a moderate Republican, sensible and honest leader. Phil is socially liberal, a climate activist, fiscally moderate and an amazing governor. He will win by 10 points or more.

GO PHIL!

"climate activist"

Where the hell are you getting this from?

[KaiserDave]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

Scott is a moderate Republican, sensible and honest leader. Phil is socially liberal, a climate activist, fiscally moderate and an amazing governor. He will win by 10 points or more.

GO PHIL!

"climate activist"

Where the hell are you getting this from?

He kept Vermont in the Paris Accord and I believe he supports Obama's clean power plan.


But sure.....doing nothing on climate.

[Figueira]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

Oooooooo!!!!!

Now this is news! This is gonna be interesting. Thank you for telling us.

I think I support Timothy Ashe still, but Phil's coattails could help Milne, although in the past Phil hasn't had much in the way of coattails.

Milne came close because he was running against a terrible opponent, so if he has a terrible opponent again this time, he could come close again, or win.

[President Biden Democrat]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

Scott is a moderate Republican, sensible and honest leader. Phil is socially liberal, a climate activist, fiscally moderate and an amazing governor. He will win by 10 points or more.

GO PHIL!

"climate activist"

Where the hell are you getting this from?

Scott would not have won twice in Vermont if he was so conservative. Look at Phil's policies and you will find that they are indeed fairly liberal. Polls show Phil is winning by a likely or safe margin.

[KaiserDave]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

Oooooooo!!!!!

Now this is news! This is gonna be interesting. Thank you for telling us.

I think I support Timothy Ashe still, but Phil's coattails could help Milne, although in the past Phil hasn't had much in the way of coattails.

Milne came close because he was running against a terrible opponent, so if he has a terrible opponent again this time, he could come close again, or win.

I think Ashe is more likely that not to beat him, but anything can happen.

[Brother Jonathan]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

Oooooooo!!!!!

Now this is news! This is gonna be interesting. Thank you for telling us.

I think I support Timothy Ashe still, but Phil's coattails could help Milne, although in the past Phil hasn't had much in the way of coattails.

Milne came close because he was running against a terrible opponent, so if he has a terrible opponent again this time, he could come close again, or win.

I think Ashe is more likely that not to beat him, but anything can happen.

Milne isn't a bad candidate, but I think Ashe is fairly strong. Ashe doesn't really seem to have many weaknesses, and I can't see Scott having much by way of coattails in a national election year to help out Milne (who, I would say, is seen as more partisan and conservative than Scott, even if it's mostly just perception).

[KaiserDave]

https://vtdigger.org/2020/05/28/milne-joins-race-for-lieutenant-governor/

Scott Milne (GOP nominee for governor in 2014 and Senate in 2016) is running for the open Lieutenant Governor's seat. He did get a lot closer in the 2014 race than anyone expected.

Oooooooo!!!!!

Now this is news! This is gonna be interesting. Thank you for telling us.

I think I support Timothy Ashe still, but Phil's coattails could help Milne, although in the past Phil hasn't had much in the way of coattails.

Milne came close because he was running against a terrible opponent, so if he has a terrible opponent again this time, he could come close again, or win.

I think Ashe is more likely that not to beat him, but anything can happen.

Milne isn't a bad candidate, but I think Ashe is fairly strong. Ashe doesn't really seem to have many weaknesses, and I can't see Scott having much by way of coattails in a national election year to help out Milne (who, I would say, is seen as more partisan and conservative than Scott, even if it's mostly just perception).

I agree entirely.

[KaiserDave]

Some meme fun

Not intended to target anyone in this thread, just for an absurd laugh

Being honest I'm enjoying this discussion and I thank everyone for participating

And full disclosure, I don't hate Zuckerman. His rural Vermont progressivism speaks to me, but we disagree on some and I believe Phil is a better candidate for Governor.

[Figueira]

Let's hope the anti-vaxxer loses.

Let's hope the climate denier (as recently as 2016) also loses: https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/a-climate-change-phil-scott-evolves-on-global-warming/Content?oid=3616844

-Believes in Climate Change Science
-Kept Vermont in Paris Climate Accord


Climate change denier!

Scott is a moderate Republican, sensible and honest leader. Phil is socially liberal, a climate activist, fiscally moderate and an amazing governor. He will win by 10 points or more.

GO PHIL!

"climate activist"

Where the hell are you getting this from?

He kept Vermont in the Paris Accord and I believe he supports Obama's clean power plan.


But sure.....doing nothing on climate.

Ehhh...you have a point now that I'm looking further into it. He still partially denied climate change in July 2016 though. And he could be doing more now.

Anyway, I hope Holcombe wins.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The reason why Sununu and Scott are winning, they represent Barry Goldwater moderation and represent the Reagan, Bush and McCain wing of the R party that triangulated.

Trump wasn't a politician before he became Prez and unlike Gov Bush W and Ronald Reagan whom worked with Dems in the state legislators, they knew the art of compromise: campaign finance reform,  minimum wage etc. The only thing Trump did was pass a tax cut and tried to repeal Obamacare.

The cap on SSA should of been raised in 2010, from 150 K and 225k; consequently, we wouldnt be in such a deficit. That was part of the Grand Bargin, but like Trump, Boehner was a polarizing force, that's why he too was removed from office, like Trump will be

[KaiserDave]

The reason why Sununu and Scott are winning, they represent Barry Goldwater moderation and represent the Reagan, Bush and McCain wing of the R party that triangulated.

Trump wasn't a politician before he became Prez and unlike Gov Bush W and Ronald Reagan whom worked with Dems in the state legislators, they knew the art of compromise: campaign finance reform,  minimum wage etc. The only thing Trump did was pass a tax cut and tried to repeal Obamacare.

The cap on SSA should of been raised in 2010, from 150 K and 225k; consequently, we wouldnt be in such a deficit. That was part of the Grand Bargin, but like Trump, Boehner was a polarizing force, that's why he too was removed from office, like Trump will be

Thank you, King

[free my dawg]

The reason why Sununu and Scott are winning, they represent Barry Goldwater moderation and represent the Reagan, Bush and McCain wing of the R party that triangulated.

Every time I see this take, I die a little inside. Chris Sununu is not a moderate, he has never been a moderate, and he never will be a moderate.

In fact, even if he was, he couldn't govern like a moderate. Unlike Massachusetts or Vermont, the NHGOP has a strong conservative wing that needs to be appeased. There was such a drastic split between Gatsas, Forrester, and Sununu that Frank Edelblut (the candidate of the conservative wing) almost won in a massive upset. Since then, Sununu has extended an olive branch towards the Trump wing of the party, rather than work with the Democrats to find common ground.

The man's political appointees have largely been political cronies. He nominated Edelblut to be his Secretary of Education, despite him having zero professional qualifications whatsoever. In fact, the only thing that could be argued was that he helped homeschooled his kids, which leads me to believe he's backing a more conservative education policy focusing on alternative education. His Chief Justice nominee got rejected because he nominated his own Attorney General. The man, to put it plainly, is the swamp.

Aside from his flip-flops (including Planned Parenthood, which he only supported to get elected in the first place), he's been horrible on voting rights. It's honestly a ****ing joke that this man made my state ground zero for youth voter suppression and people call him a moderate. Had Brian Kemp not been so craven, Chris Sununu would be the voter suppressor-in-chief.

[KaiserDave]

The reason why Sununu and Scott are winning, they represent Barry Goldwater moderation and represent the Reagan, Bush and McCain wing of the R party that triangulated.

Every time I see this take, I die a little inside. Chris Sununu is not a moderate, he has never been a moderate, and he never will be a moderate.

In fact, even if he was, he couldn't govern like a moderate. Unlike Massachusetts or Vermont, the NHGOP has a strong conservative wing that needs to be appeased. There was such a drastic split between Gatsas, Forrester, and Sununu that Frank Edelblut (the candidate of the conservative wing) almost won in a massive upset. Since then, Sununu has extended an olive branch towards the Trump wing of the party, rather than work with the Democrats to find common ground.

The man's political appointees have largely been political cronies. He nominated Edelblut to be his Secretary of Education, despite him having zero professional qualifications whatsoever. In fact, the only thing that could be argued was that he helped homeschooled his kids, which leads me to believe he's backing a more conservative education policy focusing on alternative education. His Chief Justice nominee got rejected because he nominated his own Attorney General. The man, to put it plainly, is the swamp.

Aside from his flip-flops (including Planned Parenthood, which he only supported to get elected in the first place), he's been horrible on voting rights. It's honestly a ****ing joke that this man made my state ground zero for youth voter suppression and people call him a moderate.

Yep
Aaaaagreed

[free my dawg]

He happens to be successful in New Hampshire because the state is more conservative than VT and MA. There's a market for a Reagan/Bush-era conservative here, although I'd use that term very loosely with Sununu. Unlike Ayotte, Sununu is utterly devoid of principles and believes in whatever is most politically convenient at any given time.

Even then, he's not offensive enough to trigger the #NeverTrumpers in the state or the wine moms.