B-TROPICAL
FAIR GAME
SATURDAY, MARCH 29
Traveling Salesman
OPEN SEASON ON VERMONT POLITICS BY PAUL HEINTZ
(ENERGETIC ISLAND & AFRICAN RHYTHMS)
6:30 PM AT
A
12 FAIR GAME
SEVEN DAYS
05.30.12-06.06.12
SEVENDAYSVT.COM
sked last month about his campaign for a third term, Gov. PETER SHUMLIN responded the way he usually does: with an air of practiced nonchalance. “Believe it or not, I don’t wake up in the morning thinking about a reelection campaign,” he said at a Montpelier press conference. “I’m not focused on fundraisA NIGHT OF DANCING, ing for my campaign.” DRINKS & SUPPORTING Well, someone on Team Shumlin sure is. On Monday, the gov announced he’d raised THE VERMONT HAITI PROJECT nearly $329,000 in the past eight months, WWW.VERMONTHAITIPROJECT.ORG pushing his campaign war chest a smidge over the million-dollar mark. Just as important for Shumlin: The 12v-vermonthaitiproject031914.indd 1 3/18/14 2:34 PMonly potential challenger to file a mandatory fundraising and spending report by Monday’s deadline was former Republican state auditor and senator RANDY BROCK, who Shumlin handily defeated in 2012. And Brock’s new report only included expenses Gardener’s Supply - Burlington related to his last campaign. Despite his claims to the contrary, the March 22 • 9:30–11:00am governor quite clearly is focused on funSoil 101 draising, his filing shows — and that has Mike Ather a lot to do with his dearth of opponents. Healthy and vibrant plants start with On the very morning Shumlin uttered his healthy soil. This one’s a must for all “I don’t wake up in the morning” remark, his campaign sent an email blast to its list gardeners, from beginner to more of supporters asking for “$10, $25 or $50” experienced grower. contributions. A mere six days before that, Shumlin March 29 • 9:30–11:00am had traveled to D.C. for a spate of fundraisBackyard Foraging ers benefiting the Democratic Governors Association, including one featuring Ellen Zacho President BARACK OBAMA. While in town, When you think about hostas and Shummy picked up checks addressed to day lilies, you probably focus on their his own campaign account, totaling at least appealing foliage and vibrant blooms, $16,000, according to Monday’s filing. but these perennials are delicious as Two days before, he took an unanwell as lovely. A surprising number nounced trip to Boston, where he wined of our favorite garden plants can feed and dined Bay State donors at Stella, an both body and soul. Learn how to upscale Italian joint in the South End. recognize, harvest and prepare tasty Shumlin’s campaign raked in at least treats from plants you already have $13,000 that day. And Stella didn’t do too around your home. bad, either. The tab came to $742.26. Indeed, the takeaway from Shumlin’s Register at: latest fundraising report is that the majorwww.GardenerSupplyStore.com ity of his campaign cash comes from bigmoney donors who live outside Vermont. Seminars are $10. Many of them contributed the maximum Pre-registration is required. allowed by law, which is $2,000 this cycle, while still others circumvented those limits by giving through their companies and family members. More interesting than how much 128 Intervale Road, Burlington Shummy raised, however, is how little he 472 Marshall Ave. Williston spent on fundraising during those same (802)660-3505 eight months: just $19,972. www.GardenersSupplyStore.com By leveraging his role as chairman of the DGA, the gov managed to hold fundraisers from D.C. to Las Vegas to San Francisco Preseason Nursery Sale: without spending a dime of his own camPurchase a plant card paign cash. Pretty much his only campaign expenses during that time were cell phone and SAVE 30% bills, online processing fees and $8,000 in
payments to fundraiser ERIKA WOLFFING. The rest — airfare, hotel rooms, etc. — came courtesy of the DGA, which raises most of its money through five- and sixfigure donations from big corporate and union donors. For instance, on November 19 Shumlin’s official appearance schedule listed him as, “In New York City for DGA.” When Seven Days inquired about his activities at the time, DGA spokesman DANNY KANNER said that Shumlin “will be in New York for a
SHUMLIN MANAGED TO HOLD FUNDRAISERS FROM D.C. TO LAS VEGAS TO SAN FRANCISCO
WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME OF HIS OWN CAMPAIGN CASH.
finance luncheon” and that the DGA would cover his travel expenses. “It’s a meeting with prospective donors,” Kanner elaborated. That very day, according to Shumlin’s most recent filing, the governor managed to raise $26,000 for his own campaign. The day before, he took in another $4,500 from New Yorkers. Among the donors? Highpowered lobbyist HEATHER PODESTA, real estate scion HOWARD MILSTEIN and Universal Remote Control founder CHANG PARK, who’s contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations devoted to, um, getting money out of politics. Oh, and let’s not forget JOHN ZUCCOTTI, the real estate tycoon whose eponymous Lower Manhattan park played host to the Occupy Wall Street crowd more than two years ago. Zuccotti and his wife, Susan, each donated $2,000 to the Shumlin campaign that day — as did four companies affiliated with Zuccotti’s Brookfield Financial Properties. Three other Zuccottis — John Andrew, Margaret and Milena — each contributed a thousand apiece to Shumlin in the two months that followed. So did all those donors just happen to slip the gov a check at a “finance luncheon” benefiting the DGA? Or was it actually a Shumlin for Governor fundraiser, paid for by the DGA? If the latter, according to Vermont law, it would have to be reported as an in-kind contribution to the Shumlin campaign. It was not. Perhaps tellingly, none of those who contributed to Shumlin’s campaign that day contributed to the DGA, according to
that organization’s 2013 IRS filing. The Shumlin campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Assistant Attorney General EVE JACOBS-CARNAHAN declined to weigh in on the situation. Either way, Shumlin’s political apparatus and the DGA appear inextricably linked. The governor’s former chief of staff, BILL LOFY, serves as a senior advisor to the DGA and continues to advise him. And Wolffing, Shumlin’s longtime fundraiser, left her job as deputy labor commissioner in December to become a finance consultant for both the DGA and the Shumlin campaign. That raises the question of whether Wolffing raises money on Shumlin’s behalf through the DGA, which can accept unlimited contributions, with the understanding that such money would be invested in Shumlin’s campaign if the going gets tough this fall. The DGA spent more than a million dollars backing the gov’s first run for office in 2010. There’s no shortage of donors who play in both sandboxes. Billionaire hedge fund manager TOM STEYER, for instance, contributed $250,000 to the DGA at the end of last year. Steyer, a staunch environmentalist, has pledged to spend more than $100 million on Democratic campaigns this season, prompting some pundits to refer to him as a liberal version of the Koch brothers. Steyer has also steered thousands to Shumlin’s reelection campaign. According to the governor’s latest filing, Steyer and his family spent nearly $5,100 catering a San Francisco fundraiser for Shummy on September 30 — the day he was scheduled to be heading back to Vermont from a trip to China and Vietnam. The gov’s campaign collected more than $20,000 from Californians in the days leading up to the Steyer fundraiser. While Shumlin often rails against U.S. Supreme Court rulings that weakened the nation’s campaign finance laws, he seems to see nothing wrong with flagrantly flouting Vermont’s own limits. Like Zuccotti, several other Shumlin donors have exceeded Vermont’s current limit of $2,000 per donor, per election cycle. On the day Shumlin traveled to D.C. last month, Massachusetts auto dealer ERNIE BOCH, JR., gave the governor $2,000 from his own checkbook — and two more contributions of the same amount from a trust and an LLC. Last July, Boch’s father, Ernie Sr., gave another $2,000, as did Subaru of New England, which is owned by the family. Also in D.C., billionaire banker LEONARD ABESS and his wife, Jayne, gave Shumlin’s campaign at least $8,000 through various entities they control. Abess made his fortune as the owner of First National Bank of Florida and appears to own property in Vermont.